Go home
The amazing people I meet in my classes at the Institute, the conversations, the experiences–all bring me back again and again, for over a decade now. And yet, after all the moments that give me insight–Alice at 86 teaching me to play and learn always, Miguel’s photographs inviting me to …
Get your dance back
There are extraordinary people among us. My class last week was a magical combination of extraordinary ones, including a woman who got her PhD when she was 82. She’s now 86. Every time she opened her mouth, a story emerged that enraptured and informed us, those around her. Alice, we …
Unknot, simplify, let it alone
“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” –Thoreau
Eat cabbage
The Cabbage You have rented an apartment. You come to this enclosure with physical relief, your heavy body climbing the stairs in the dark, the hall bulb burned out, the landlord of Greek extraction and possibly a fatalist. In the apartment leaning against one wall, your daughter’s painting of a …
Be a witness
Sometimes we expend energy by reacting when stillness is called for. "Just stay focused. Don’t react. Just be a witness and you will see the magic of it." – Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji Slow down. Respond, don’t react. Sit still. Be a witness. See magic.
Notice the metaphors all around you
I wonder sometimes if sprinklers are a metaphor for something. I’m teaching this month at an Institute that is housed on the campus of Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Once the 102 degree nonairconditioned temperatures of last week subsided and I escaped to the beach for a weekend, I have …
Plan ahead
I love this quote from S.J. Lec’s New Unkempt Thoughts: "Now that you have broken through the wall with your head, what will you do in the neighboring cell?"
Go to Pana-sea-ah
There is something wonderful about seeing new places in the world, seeking out new adventures, trying new foods and ways of being in the world, meeting new people. I’m all for that exploring, the kind that T.S. Eliot reminds us in his Four Quartets takes us right back where we …
