One of the things I did last year to sustain me during some challenging times was to create my own inspiration cards. I got some multi-colored index cards, some pens with various colors of ink, and a box. Then I started writing down quotes, poems, thoughts, verses, whatever caught my attention and provided inspiration, encouragement, […]
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It’s hard to ask for help. We like to be self-sufficient and not have to depend on anyone else. Our culture values independence. Asking for help is seen as weak, not fully in control. And you know we all like to be in control! Being in control is seen as strong. But let’s think about
Self-improvement is big business. It permeates our culture and our psyches. We are bombarded by messages of not-quite-good-enoughness from every direction, as well as promises of how to be better in every imaginable way. And it’s hard to argue that being healthier, happier, smarter, kinder, holier, and so on, would be a bad thing. There
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Always lead with love You will never falter You will never make a mistake For love navigates true and unerring Along paths of infinite connection Revealing the wondrous web of all creation
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Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Sometimes life brings us a gift of such overwhelming magnitude that it’s hard to resist trying to make sense of it in our rational minds. Our minds are dedicated in their mission to label, categorize, explain, and construct narrative, to fit everything neatly into an organized system
Death held out his hand Walk with me a while, he said So I took his hand And walked along beside him At first afraid, I calmed in his presence For he held me dear in love And fear melted into wonder He did not take me then It was not my time But he is never far And life is richer for it
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Years ago when I was researching and writing about happiness, one question kept coming up. If we all say we want to be happy, why aren’t we? Before we go further, let’s expand our concept of happiness to include joy, well being, wonder, awe, contentment, inner peace, enjoyment, just basic okayness, and any other related
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Before enlightenment chop wood carry water. After enlightenment chop wood carry water. ~Zen saying Reflecting the wisdom of this saying, Jack Kornfield titled one of his books “After the Ecstasy, the Laundry.” The point of both the saying and the title is that we might have peak mystical experiences of awakening, but then it’s time
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This phrase has been helping me stay focused. Jack Kornfield attributes it to his Buddhist teacher Achaan Chah as an encouragement to commit oneself to meditation. In that sense it is an admonition to literally sit on the seat of your meditation cushion. To me, however, it is also a reminder to figuratively take the
I ran across this phrase recently. It caught my attention because I love the word abide. Looking up its etymology, I found that it carries with it a sense of “waiting onward.” I loved that too. Not waiting passively or impatiently, but with an attitude of alert attention, open receptivity, readiness to engage fully with
How marvelous is this life How blessed am I To have lived in this form Long enough to love And to be loved Long enough to awaken And remember who I am Long enough to know What I now know
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Several years ago, the desire to know, to merge, with the Divine Beloved was so strong within me that I knew without that union, nothing else would ever be enough. And so I wrote this prayer: BelovedOh to feel your touch of graceI ache for your embrace of compassionTake me to yourselfLose me in the
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For a number of years, I used a non-dominant-hand writing method to access inner wisdom and guidance. Once, as my left hand was writing about seeing through all illusion to the reality of truth, I was counseled not only to see the truth, but to “live the seeing.” Curious phrasing, but the advice stuck with
All that has happened has brought you here Do not judge what is beyond your understanding You ride the wings of angels Who watch over you with love And carry you on the winds of creation
I haven’t had a word of the year for a decade. In an illustration of cosmic humor of the universe, my last word of the year was in 2013 and my word was “wait.” But as 2013 came to a close, no new word came for 2014. Now, ten years later, as 2023 drew to
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Greetings to all and wishes for a good start to the new year. I was at my cabin for New Year’s Eve. I did my usual ritual of writing a letter to the old year thanking it for its blessings, and a letter welcoming the new year. It’s normal as a year ends to reflect.
Tonight is winter solstice, the longest night. Tomorrow the light returns just as winter begins. How perfect. A few days ago, I sat on a driftwood log, watching the seagulls swoop over the waves crashing on the shore. All I could think was, “Thank you, God, for letting me live long enough to have this
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I was describing to someone how working on the last stages of my new book as I was preparing for cancer surgery this summer really helped me stay centered. Reading and rereading the chapters to edit and proofread kept the content of the book front and center in my consciousness and was a constant and
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No need to travel Or journey far Within is vast terrain To explore until You arrive where you began And marvel to reflect On such an adventure
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As the American holiday of Thanksgiving approaches, we find our own ways of celebrating, or, for some of us, not celebrating. Some have traditional dinners with friends or family. Some are uncomfortable with the controversial origins of the holiday and choose not to acknowledge it, while others embrace the first Thanksgiving narrative. Some choose, like
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