Walk sweetly with yourself. Find every reason possible to love who you are. ~Emmanuel’s Book II The Bible tells us to love our enemies as ourselves. The Dao De Jing speaks of extending self-love to all creation. But these teachings assume that we love ourselves. The story is told of the Dalai Lama being asked […]
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I’m pleased to share with you that my new book Your Breath Is Your Guru is now available in paperback and ebook. Here is the link to my website with a description and links for purchase. I hope you will check it out. https://www.galenpearl.com/writing/ All proceeds are donated to North Pole Studio, supporting and promoting
Lying in the mossy green beside the creek I prepare to give birth to myself From within comes the liberation I have prayed for The pangs of labor I had not foreseen Yet I embrace it all Trusting in the promise of safe passage Welcoming with love whatever comes
I closed all my social media accounts one year ago. I had conducted a trial run without social media through January of last year, and having survived that, I decided to go off social media permanently. So I deleted all my accounts at the beginning of February. I was nervous, I admit. I felt cut
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What is it about a baby’s eyes that is so compelling? Maybe because they look so surprised and amazed at what they see. The world is fresh, everything is fascinating, and, if they are lucky, they see infinite love being reflected back to them. One thing that captivates me about a baby’s eyes are the
Endings and beginnings. Our calendar end and beginning of the year may be an artificial construct and not universal, but for me it still signifies something wondrous. A time to reflect on and release the year ending, and a time to anticipate the fresh start of a new year. Most years, I spend the final
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Al Gore became the brunt of jokes when he was misquoted as saying he invented the Internet. He did claim, however, to have created a more receptive federal environment for the development and use of the Internet, and in a sense, that claim was correct. The Internet, as we know it, is a recent phenomenon.
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In one of my favorite scenes in Star Trek Voyager, the character named Seven of Nine thwarts the evil Borg queen’s plan by reading her mind. As the queen looks surprised, Seven calmly notes, “Our thoughts are one.” You might be familiar with the term “six degrees of separation,” meaning that all of us are
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As some of you know, I facilitate a twice monthly contemplation group using the Dao De Jing as a focus for exploration and reflection. With the onset of Covid, we shifted from an in person group to a Zoom group, which allows us to expand within and beyond the Portland area. We now run in
Invitation to Dao De Jing Contemplation Group Read More »
It’s finally here! I hope y’all will check out my new book. It’s a collection of prayers and responses written over several years using a non-dominant hand writing method. Click here for more information. All proceeds are donated to North Pole Studio, a nonprofit art studio for artists with developmental disabilities. Please check out their
Those who long for love Look for someone to give it to them Not realizing they are showered with love From the soul of every person From the rocks on the mountain From each star in the heavens From the tiny violet beside the path
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Several people have asked me about my choice to bow out of social media. I thought I would offer some reflections about this decision in the context of the broader question of what feeds our souls. I got on Facebook initially because I wanted to monitor my kids’ accounts. Over the years, I gradually increased
What Feeds Your Soul? Read More »
Yesterday was my birthday. Twenty years ago, on my birthday, I decided to visit the Kuan Yin temple on the outskirts of Portland. Kuan Yin is sometimes described as the goddess of mercy and compassion. She is often depicted holding a vase in her hand, which is filled with the nectar of compassion that she
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Welcome to the first official post on the Galen Pearl website, and the new home of the No Way Café blog. I’m so grateful to web designer Bryn Kristi. With only the vaguest guidance from a reluctant client, she was able to craft a website that surprised and delighted me, reflecting the welcoming beauty I
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[Note: I started to write a new blog post titled “There Is No How.” After typing the title, I tried to save it, but my computer told me I already had a file by that name. Turns out I wrote a blog post by this title three years ago. I went back to read it
A conversation with a friend yesterday revealed an issue about commenting on blog posts if you are an email subscriber. If you subscribe by email, the blog post comes to your email inbox via a “do not reply” source through Google. That means that if you reply directly to the email, I do not get your
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As part of her college ethics class, my daughter was asked to list the core values she was raised with. Here is her list: Always tell the truthWork hard for what you wantBe kind Wow, I thought, she really was paying attention when she was growing up! I was glad to see reflected back to
What Values Do We Model? Read More »
A few days ago I woke up with a migraine. I took some medicine and went back to bed with a cold gel pack on my forehead. The headache did not subside. It got worse. As I lay there, I became aware of the constant chatter going on in my mind. We all have that
When engaged with learning, every day something is acquiredWhen engaged with Tao, every day something is released~Tao Te Ching Learning in our everyday lives is a process of acquiring knowledge, information, skill. There is nothing wrong with that. “Learning” in our spiritual lives, however, is a process of “unlearning,” letting go of whatever it is
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