In yoga class, and other mindful movement forms, we learn that breath directs our attention, and we learn to slow down transitions between postures. I’ve taught yoga and I’ve said such words. Great ideas! Fun in class! But off the mat, I’m not so sure I lived like these truths were true. This spring-time energy…
fail (feyl) to fall short of success or achievement in something expected, attempted, desired, or approved (from www.dictionary.com) It doesn’t take us long to develop a comfort zone. Our comfort zone contains those areas where we are reasonably confident we’ll succeed—whatever that means to us. Even as kids we have one and that’s during the time of our lives when we are the most willing to fail. Stepping outside…
My colleague pinged me late last night and asked if I posted a blog. (Monday’s are my posting day.) “No,” I replied, “I have nothing to say.” I mean, I have a few half written blogs and poems in various states of completion, but … nothing feeling urgent. Then I realized: that is it. . . I…
“Little by little, we change the world we live in. Even the grand, earth-shaking events of history have their origins in individual thought.” Eknath Easwaran Terror-ism. “Ism” is a suffix that means “the adherence or following an ideology,” (online dictionary), making terrorism the ideology of terror or fear. Fear and terror are powerful forces. They motivate…
If life resides in the present moment, life might have felt like too much for many of us last week. I’m not even sure we needed to live in or near Boston to feel rattled by the bombing that radically effected so many people. It’s still too raw, still too early, too many unknowns. Too…
I’ve had lots of conversations over the past few years initiated because aging parents have downsized or a remaining parent has died leaving their children to sort through all their accumulated stuff. I found the process of sorting through my mother’s things difficult because in some way I felt like I was disassembling her actual…
This week, in the U.S., our taxes are due to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Many of us find the task daunting, overwhelming, confusing and draining. This year for me there was something about this process that had me feel simultaneously inadequate, stingy and angry. For anyone who knows me these are not…
“Your heart is your home. Your mind your office. Don’t get them confused.” Here at Seven Stones, and in all of the teachings I study, there is talk of unwinding the armoring against separation and isolation and dropping into our heart center. I have been a diligent student: opening to the suffering of the world,…
Here’s a riddle: What does a leader do when she’s sick? (Wait for the answer.) First, consider our options: We can ignore our illness and align ourselves with the traditional, cultural way: to continue—or try to continue–to produce through our un-well condition. We often know the risks of this, but do it anyway. In this…
We aren’t always particularly skilled at making connections between our habits and the quality of our lives. It is just part of being human. I have been no exception, but as I relax into my 50th year of Iiving, one such association has finally become clear and I’d love to share it with you. If you know…