Shhhhhh…. On Retreat

Last evening Nancy Green came for dinner. Stacey had driven up from Tennessee the previous day. I have been cooking for days…. all in preparation for my coming on an 8 day Deep Spring Center for Meditation retreat with Barbara Brodsky and John Orr. This retreat will be on Zoom, and I am the […]

Sensibilities and Sunglasses

Buddhist philosophy offers a list of eight worldly concerns (Eight Worldly Dhammas) that lead to suffering. We pursue pleasure, fame, gain, and praise while avoiding pain, insignificance, loss, and blame. They are laid out in pairs so, like two ends of a stick, you cannot pick up one without also picking up the other.

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Walking Each Other Home

“…we might almost say silence is the tribute we pay to holiness; we slip off words when we enter a sacred space, just as we slip off shoes. A ‘moment of silence’ is the highest honor we can pay someone; it is the point at which the mind stops and something else takes over (words […]

I Love You, Daddy!

Today is my dad’s re-birth day. Daddy had a fatal heart attack while rototilling his garden on May 7, 1992. He had pulled his old truck up to the edge of the garden and would do one row down-and-back, then sit in the truck to rest a bit before doing the next row. I think […]

We’re Going Home, Toto…

My grandson, Brad, is working behind the scenes to move Yellow Brick Road to debrabasham.com and in doing so, we hope to bring together content from several websites, and purge information no longer accurate now that I am not formally working. It was fun this morning to read my very first blog posted Sunday, December […]

The Birds Still Sing

We wake up to snow flurries this morning…. so grateful one week ago today we arrived home in Michigan in gorgeous sunshine. We had beautiful warm, sunny days all week. Until yesterday…. and now snow today. But the birds still sing!

Yesterday John and I went to St. John UCC in New Buffalo where I […]

Your Memory is Ecstasy

The winter season for this snowbird has included swimming in the river of emotions. We spent tender time with friends and neighbors who have lost their homes, had their homes severely damaged, are still working to repair or adjust six months after Hurricane Ian hit. And beyond all of that, losses of many friends and […]

Killdeer Babies: Know Where to Look

When you cease to relate to the darkness as something separate or other than the light, this invites the darkness into its sacred expression. In its highest expression it comes as teacher — perhaps not pleasant, but as teacher. Pain, fear, grief — not separate from the light. ~ Aaron

On Tuesday evening at the […]

Indian Tree Giving

Because the collective is shifting so rapidly, we are doubling back for upgrades to things we have long-known. Yesterday for me was “The Rule of Six.” Simply put, any thought or belief that I recognize has the slightest tinge of lack, I can allow six alternate ways of experiencing it. This teaches the mind instantaneous […]

True Spirit

Last evening we watched “True Spirit” about Jessica Watson, an Australian teen who sailed around the world in a 30-foot yacht. This morning I went online to research some of the details of the account and, not wanting this to be a spoiler alert, I will simply share this reply to the inquiry of how […]