Beyond the chair.
Reflections and Intentions
It’s that time of year for most of us, regardless of our belief systems or tendencies, to peer over our shoulder at the year behind us while gazing ahead. It’s inevitable that we feel some sense of transition as the Gregorian calendar adds another year to the count. The new year also creates pressure, hope,…
Tassajara
Part 2 Zendo, Zazen, Friendship, Laughter Time spent in the mountains, without hurry or concern for what comes next, is so nourishing it can be difficult to accept that one must eventually return to a different life. Leaving the safety of the expansive wilderness, our stalwart group of pilgrims approached the gateless gates of the…
Retreat
Part 1 Wild Dharma Pilgrimage “When we walk the trail, we renew the trail.” Fletcher Tucker What do you get when twelve people gather together with backpacks accompanied by three enthusiastic wilderness guides, all prepared to enter the rugged terrain of the Santa Lucia Mountain Range for five days? A Wild Dharma Pilgrimage. First, the…
Endings
I was never great at endings…. My much younger self would run away, not knowing how to accept an ending that was painful and unexpected. As an adolescent, I ran away from home, skipped school, found plenty of substances to manage my pain and even cleverly fled from several residential treatment programs. I was always…
Embracing a growth mindset
@jasmine My daughter captured this photo as we were returning home from Santa Barbara, our first college tour of what will certainly be more to come. The skies were tumultuous above the orchards in the San Joaquin valley and when the sun dipped beneath the thick cloud cover in the west, the world lit up.…
Staying Awake
As I wandered the colorful and vibrant alleyways of Venice my final few days of travel, I found myself contemplating the idea of wakefulness. Particularly ironic in my case, as I spent much of my ten days more awake than I would have preferred. Staying awake, or rather wakefulness, is about presence in one’s life.…
Buon Viaggio a Me!
Many years ago, as a young college student living in Boulder, I followed a dream. Much to the disapproval of my mother, who tends to be an anxious worrier, I decided to take a year off (now called a “gap year”) and buy a one-way ticket to Italy. Despite studying the language for two years,…
Wanting the life that you have
We are powerful beings and creators. If you’ve ever explored The Law of Attraction, you know what I’m talking about. It’s essentially about our vast, often untapped capacity to create exactly what we want for ourselves. Woven into this theme, however, is the important acknowledgement that if we focus too much on what we don’t…
Transformation
What does it take to undergo a transformation? It’s never a bad time to reflect but the completion of a year seems to invite us more deeply into this space of reverie. I started writing this post in June. What happened? Life and its twists and turns took me in a different direction from my…
To Be Seen
Jane Eyre taught me that loneliness had more to do with being misunderstood than being alone. Amy Tan I was chatting with my 15 year old daughter recently. It was one of those priceless moments when I was able to be still and she was willing to share and be open. A winning combination. As…
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On Reflection 