Holy Notre-Dame

WORD FOR THE DAY

I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable…but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.

Agatha Christie Visit Gratefulness.org/

This week’s news out of Paris was shocking, and of all times to have it be Holy Week for humanity to experience […]

Inter-Are

I have been wondering about the distinction between self care and nurture (kindness and wisdom) and “distraction.” Might we be doing wholesome actions such as exercise or journal writing, or playing music, without being skillful?

Additionally, I wrote to Barbara Brodsky, Founding Teacher of Deep Spring Meditation Center, asking about all of this. “We are […]

Say Only

In September of 2018, I made a two-year commitment to a study called “The Dharma Path,” with Barbara Brodsky and Aaron. I have once again been amazed at how your intention creates your experience. In Buddhism, dharma means “cosmic law and order,” and is also applied to the teachings of the Buddha. In Buddhist philosophy, […]

Hey Ma Durga

I wrote this poem a few days ago while I at the 2018 Deep Spring Meditation Center retreat at Oakwood Retreat Center.

Vipassana

V-vast are the stories I-incessant the grasping, clinging, and aversion P-passing away; what passes away A-and where does “it” go? S-Silence, stillness, smiling or sometimes sobbing S-Sitting, stepping, satiating A-Ananda, Hey Ma […]

Tree of Hope

Right after posting this blog, I was gifted a box of blank cards titled “Tree of Hope.” I am posting again, with the new title and with the front of the card now included.

Deep Spring Center Thought for Today

“If you wish to live in (a certain city) what might block you from […]

Infinite Possibilities

Deep Spring Center Thought for Today

“If you wish to live in (a certain city) what might block you from manifesting that move? Is there any question about your worthiness to live in a place that is most delightful to you? Any question about fear of getting what you want? The question here is not […]

Commitment to Joy in Trying Times

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

“The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver from New and Selected Poems, 1992 Beacon Press, Boston, MA Copyright 1992

It has been quite some time since I made a two-year commitment to a formal program of study. Deep Spring Meditation […]

Calamity and Collapse

Grapevine Daily Quote May 30 “Truly transforming spiritual experiences are nearly always founded on calamity and collapse.” AA Co-Founder, Bill W., August 1957, “The Physicians”, The Language of the Heart

August of 2017 was a month of ginormous change. We were settling into our new tiny home. My brother-in-law, Jim, passed peacefully early in […]

Milarepa’s Muses

I am in a poetry writing group. We are working our way through The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop by Diane Lockward. Craft Tip #12 is about the uses of myth. “Milarepa’s Muses” is based on The Non-Duality of Coming to Know the Light Within the Darkness; Age of Kali , a talk given […]

Love Will Find a Way

The future won’t always be fair.

But we can try.

We can care.

We can choose to connect.

It can be better if we let it.

~ Seth Godin

Many of my days are spent bearing witness to the clarity secure within our souls as our personalities fling destructive BS into our lives. One recent […]