“People act strange around death. There are those who talk about everything but the person who died. Those who talk about only the person who died. Those who try to cheer you up. And those who can’t help but make you cry. And then there are those who say nothing at all because they don’t …Read More
Month: May 2017
“Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver
There are doctors, medicines, and even machines that have saved lives. And then there are the poets, like Mary Oliver, who have saved souls. She is so deeply present in her poetry that she invites us into presence with her. Growing up in a difficult home, nature became her mother, her teacher, and her mentor. Her …Read More
Alan Watts on Life Purpose
If you say that money is the most important thing, you’ll spend your life completely wasting your time: You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is, in order to go on doing things you don’t like doing — which is stupid! ~ Alan Watts
“Brain Pickings” by Maria Popova
Presence is far more intricate and rewarding an art than productivity. Ours is a culture that measures our worth as human beings by our efficiency, our earnings, our ability to perform this or that. The cult of productivity has its place, but worshiping at its altar daily robs us of the very capacity for joy …Read More
Healing with Horses
I am still struck today with just how generous he was to share something he loved with a stranger. Gary owned a small family farm with horses and cattle. While his profession took him to the hospital as a physical therapist where I had met him, this was another side of him — love of the …Read More
Asking the Right Question
SOMETIMES —by David Whyte Sometimes if you move carefully through the forest breathing like the ones in the old stories who could cross a shimmering bed of dry leaves without a sound, you come to a place whose only task is to trouble you with tiny but frightening requests conceived out of nowhere but in …Read More
Satyagraha – Odetta sings Ghandi’s Truth Force
Satyagraha (origin: Sanksrit) literally means “holding onto Truth” or “Truth Force”. Mahatma Ghandi coined and developed the term for his political movement of passive non-violent resistance to British Imperialism and his support for Indian independence. For Ghandi, satyagraha is much more than “non-violence.” Ghandi also referred to it as “love-force” and “soul-force”, encompassing a daily way of …Read More
Transformational Comedy with Kyle Cease
What would happen if Jim Carrey and Eckhart Tolle had a baby? Kyle Cease Transformational Comedy Leaving a successful stand-up comedian career, Kyle Cease entered the world of what he calls “Transformational Comedy.” The world of personal development and transformation workshops is full of big names like Tony Robbins, Byron Katie, and Eckhart Tolle. Are …Read More
Productivity and “The 5 Choices”
Do you want to be more productive? Every day, I wake up to a barrage of emails. I start my day with a schedule of appointments and meetings. Time is scarce and seems to disappear. I am endlessly returning messages, chronically behind, and the big “projects” slip away. I have little energy left to be …Read More
Animal Medicine – Native American Healing
Today, a pair of rabbits hopped about in my backyard, and then disappeared in the brush. A few minutes later, small deer ran across the lawn. A few minutes more, that must be mama deer lagging behind. “It’s Spring!” I said out loud to myself as I continued to stare out the window. Living in …Read More