Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think

The Girl Left Behind – A Journey Through Loss, Trauma, and Becoming – Series

On the night of October 14, 1962, at 10:40 PM PST, my mother, Frances Marion Cascinai, age 37, was found dead in our family home at 1034 Pumnalo Street in San Bernardino, California. Her death certificate lists the cause as a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest and heart, labeled a suicide.

There’s no mention of the weapon itself or any additional injuries. I was just nine years old at the time. My younger brother George was six.

I begin this blog post—and the ones that will follow about my mother with a simple truth: these words are tough to put down.

Even now, as I write, I stand at the edge of this journey, only just beginning to uncover what has long […]

By Doré Frances|2025-10-04T13:47:21-06:00April 18th, 2025|Dore Frances, Frances Cascinai (Mom), The Girl Left Behind Series, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

From Liberation to Disillusionment: A Personal Journey Through the Spiritual and Social Upheaval of the ’60s and ’70s

Sexual liberation was at the heart of the social and spiritual upheaval of the 1960s and ’70s. With the advent of the Pill, intimacy was no longer tethered to reproduction—and everything began to shift.

Divorce shed its stigma, and single-parent households, for better or worse, became common across all walks of life. Once rigid in its doctrines, even religion began to loosen its grip, offering a more flexible, no-fault approach to faith.

Psychedelic drugs were a defining force in the counterculture of the 1960s and ’70s. Substances like LSD, magic mushrooms, mescaline, and peyote propelled countless baby boomers into altered states of consciousness—brief but profound journeys into expanded awareness and a deep sense of interconnectedness.

It’s an experience I’ve never forgotten and, if […]

By Doré Frances|2025-04-14T11:04:42-06:00April 14th, 2025|Dore Frances, Spirituality, The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Treat Yourself with the Same Care You Give Others: A Simple Ritual of Self-Respect

When you invite friends over for lunch or dinner, do you prepare a thoughtful meal, tidy up your home, maybe light a few candles, put on some music, and create a warm, welcoming atmosphere?

There’s something natural about wanting others to feel comfortable and cared for in our space. But here’s a question worth asking:

How often do you extend that same care, respect, and attention to yourself?

The next time you make a meal for yourself, resist the urge to eat it while standing at the counter with your phone in one hand and fork in the other.

Instead, take ten minutes to set the table, […]

By Doré Frances|2025-04-13T10:55:43-06:00April 13th, 2025|Dore Frances, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

When Love Turns Dangerous: My Escape from a Cult-Influenced Relationship

Ron had invited three members of the Rajneesh movement to move into our home. I didn’t want any part of it.

He said they were teaching him about life and wanted to include me in that journey; however, I was not interested in what they offered.

Their beliefs clashed with mine. They spoke to Ron about how society conditions us to live a certain way, but I had spent my whole life pushing back against those exact expectations.

I was raised by parents who tried to shape me into someone I was never meant to be—urging me to conceal the very gifts that made me unique.

Deep down, I had always embraced the unknown and moved through life with openness and flow.

Ron was now […]

By Doré Frances|2025-04-12T11:23:35-06:00April 12th, 2025|Dore Frances, Relationships, The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Living in the Redwoods: A Tribe, a Guru, and a Truth I Couldn’t Ignore

We watched the last of them drift out the door, laughter echoing faintly as the house finally quieted. Another long, lazy party had come and gone in our rambling house just beyond Big Basin State Park, tucked in the Santa Cruz Mountains off Highway 9. We were about 45 minutes from Santa Cruz, living amid the towering Coastal Redwoods—some of the most awe-inspiring trees on earth, found nowhere else but California.

The house was a sprawling 5,000-square-foot haven on eight acres, with a vegetable garden out front, composting toilets, a deep well we had to monitor, propane for heat, and a gas stove that got heavy use. An expansive wooden deck wrapped halfway around the […]

By Doré Frances|2025-04-12T11:13:52-06:00April 5th, 2025|Dore Frances, Relationships, Spirituality, The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

From Bend to Boulder: A Journey of Spirit and Self

On August 1, 2011, I packed my Toyota Solara and left Bend, Oregon, bound for Colorado with my friend Jason. I had shipped a few of my larger belongings to his home, sold the rest, and fit everything I owned into the car.

The road ahead felt full of possibility — I was excited, curious, and maybe a little nervous.

What would life in Colorado be like?

What kind of energy would Boulder hold?

Jason had offered me a place to stay until I got settled, and while I didn’t know how long that might take, I was grateful for the chance to land somewhere soft.

By Doré Frances|2025-04-04T12:04:52-06:00April 4th, 2025|Bend, Oregon, Dore Frances, Spirituality, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Esalen: A Spiritual Journey Through Big Sur

My recollection begins at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California—the cradle of the human potential movement and the place where the spiritual energy of the Sixties first took hold along the California coast.

Esalen is more than a retreat center; it’s founded on the idea that human consciousness and potential constantly evolve.

The spirituality of the Sixties resembled a journey through comparative religion—a quest to find the mystical core shared by the world’s great faiths.

At Esalen, and within the broader Sixties spiritual movement, the focus wasn’t on believing in God.

It was about experiencing the divine firsthand.

I first visited Esalen in 1980, at the age of 27.

There, I encountered fellow baby boomers — Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Jews, and Protestants — […]

By Doré Frances|2025-03-30T11:36:24-06:00March 30th, 2025|Dore Frances, Spirituality, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Do Signs from the Afterlife Exist?

Can we be sure something exists just because we believe it does? Consider a picture of a meal — the aroma, flavor, and texture aren’t captured, yet we still understand they’re part of the experience.

Our vision is limited to three dimensions—much like how a camera captures only two.

So whatever animates life likely exists beyond what most of us can perceive. The force that sustains us operates outside the reach of our five senses, remaining a mystery to many.

Yet, despite not fully understanding it, we trust in it, believing it will carry us into the next day. Whether we recognize it or not, we all live by faith.

We place immense trust in an invisible force—that the earth will keep turning, the […]

By Doré Frances|2025-03-29T11:07:27-06:00March 29th, 2025|Dore Frances, Frances Cascinai (Mom), Spirituality, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments