Dr. Mark's Musings

Reflections, practices, and stories for living authentically.

Frida and Georgia, two newly adopted kittens together at home in Querétaro, México, for an essay about making sense of change.

Making Sense of Change: Where an Experience Belongs

September 6, 2026 No Comments

Two kittens and an editor’s question about chapter order left me thinking about why some life changes make sense only after we can see where ...

Fog lifting over a pasture below wooded hills near San Joaquín, Querétaro, with the title "Grief and Change" set over the image

Grief and Change: Mourning What Ends When Good News Comes

August 15, 2026 No Comments

An acceptance letter arrived on the first attempt, and what followed was closer to vertigo than to pleasure. On the mourning that hides inside the ...

Stone terrace wall at Ranas in fog with an oak growing from its top, an image of professional identity resting on but not owned by an institution

Professional identity: what I put in the organization field

August 8, 2026 No Comments

A conference form asked for my organization, and I left the field empty and came back to it. On institutional affiliation, professional identity, and where ...

The inner work of transition: title card reading "On being read in a new country," over a Querétaro terrace at golden hour with a coffee and the book A Life Aligned.

On being read in a new country | The inner work of transition

July 19, 2026 No Comments

This month my first article appeared in Mexico News Daily, an English-language outlet read across México. The piece was about my first year in Querétaro. ...

Coming home to México: title card reading "The border I crossed without paying for it," from Letters from the Interior.

Coming home to México, and the price of a threshold

July 12, 2026 No Comments

I got back to Querétaro last night, and the rains had already started. Coming home to México in July means arriving into the wettest month ...

A leather journal and ceramic coffee mug rest on a wooden windowsill in Querétaro, México, overlooking the domes and bell towers of a historic church — a reflection on what a good day looks like in your own particular life.

What We Mean by a Good Day

May 31, 2026 No Comments

Today closes Mental Health Awareness Month. For seventy-seven years now, every May has carried this small national gesture, founded by Mental Health America in 1949 ...