Welcome to Miriam's Wisdom!
inner tools for leading and living
Hello, and welcome to the new vision for this online space! I’d been through a couple iterations here, traveling a long way from my first reason for joining Substack: a wish to simply collect my favorite poems so that I could find them again easily.
The new vision, Miriam’s Wisdom, has been quietly simmering for a few years now, as I’ve spent time learning about leadership and living into a new spirituality. The two are connected, as a healthy leader brings their whole self to work. In my experience, wisdom is one of the connections between the parts of our self: between mind and heart and spirit and gut. Wisdom is embodied, and it uses the lessons that we learn through any part of ourselves, through direct experience and through the stories of others. Wisdom takes knowledge and integrates it, synthesizing facts into concepts and principles, a rubric for living and interacting with the world.
Moreover, wisdom brings together lessons from our traditions with the lessons of today, and this is where Miriam comes in. If you are familiar with the ancient story of the exodus from Egypt, Miriam is the older sister of Moses, and is a prophet and leader among their people. A recent article on MSN includes this remarkable statement:
Within a world of harsh decrees and cruelty, Miriam creates a human partnership that crosses boundaries for the sake of saving life. Out of such human moments of courage, Miriam embodies life-sustaining leadership that connects people across opposing nationalities, leading the way to a different reality.
Rabba Amirit Rosen, The Hidden Well: Exploring Miriam’s Leadership as a Source of Hope in War’s Shadow, April 7, 2026
What leader would not want to be like Miriam?
Collaborative, partnering with others to accomplish goals.
Compassionate, valuing, promoting, and sustaining life.
Courageous, building connections amidst diversity.
Visionary, bringing people to a new way of living.
These are qualities that a wise leader possesses, develops, practices, grows. At Miriam’s Wisdom, I’m exploring not only the lessons we can learn from Miriam but also the best research from business, psychology, sociology, and behavioral studies.
Leadership is not only about being an executive in a business or a not-for-profit organization. It’s not only about being a professor or teacher, a movie star or director, or even a parent. There are thought leaders and influencers, and there are people who live quiet lives in which they are role models we look up to because of some indefinable spark. That spark is leadership. Wise, grounded, meaningful, practical leadership. Every one of us has this spark, and if we nurture it, it can grow into our own unique leadership.
The fact is, leadership grows from within, as wisdom does. To develop strong, vital, wise leadership, we must not only practice outward behaviors but inward ones as well. Research shows that five key elements of wisdom are consideration for others, self-management, seeking diversity, embracing uncertainty, and taking a long-term view (Tracy Bower, PhD. Why You Need Wisdom And How To Be (More) Wise—According To Science. March 28, 2021). You’ll see me writing on these topics and many others that may not seem directly related to leadership at first… but that are developing us into wise leaders, a little bit every day. Because the wise leader takes the long-term view, I encourage you to recognize that these changes and developments may not be noticeable right away. Instead, as you apply the practices that work for you in your own life, the shifts will happen. And then one day, all at once, you’ll notice these new abilities and capacities within yourself, and if you’re like me at all, you will be pleased at the results and energized for the next developments.
Thank you for embarking with me on this journey. In coming weeks I will add more features to this newsletter and to my services, and I can’t wait to share them all with you. Are you ready to get started on this together? I’d love to hear about your goals and your journey in the comments!
As ever, I encourage you to become a subscriber and to recommend Miriam’s Wisdom to others who might find it helpful in their own development.
Subscriptions will remain free in May—and the main Miriam’s Wisdom newsletter will always be free—and I will also introduce my paid subscription offerings this summer. You can expect to see downloadables—including the monthly Kindness Calendar, which gives an idea for each day of the month for showing kindness to others and to yourself—chats, workshops, self-paced learning, and more.