A Mindful Life

Jack, a blogger whom I’ve read on and off for the past year, wrote something I felt compelled (again) to post at this site.
We keep ourselves stuck with how and why questions. How am I to live? How am I to get people to love me the way I want them to? How am [...]

When my students had to take the mid-term tests for my program, I promised them a reward if they all focused and finished within one week. They did, and I made good on my vow. I gave them each a copy of a classic children’s book.
Book ownership is a significant component of cultivating [...]

The doctor who did my annual exam called this morning. She told me that what I’ve got is just a simple cyst, which is what I had thought. It’s a big one, but no worries. Nothing need be done unless it’s uncomfortable for me, and then it can be removed (since draining [...]

Our creative team will come up with design and marketing ideas you never even thought of. How could you? You don’t have the talent we do. Don’t take it personally. That’s our job. That’s what we do. We do stuff.
[via lactose incompetent]

I just finished reading Anne Lamott’s new book (thank you, Shirl) and am about to employ one of her techniques. I’m going to go on a cruise. When she needs a break, she takes a cruise, as she calls it, by nesting in her bed with magazines, blankets, pets, and chocolate, and stays [...]

When I moved here last summer, I cast around for activities to keep me busy, since I had no job waiting. I learned of Hands On Bay Area, an organization that works with non-profit groups to coordinate volunteer assistance. What appealed to me was the opportunity to choose from an array of activities [...]

Green grows the lacy bush that whispers to the wind.I reach for my words; they are dry, parched for experiencehaving been wrapped too long in disuse.I summon them but they disobey, scatterand I am left, alone and lame on my couchwatching the stately trees dance.

Hope brings stress, because it creates desires and expectations. Some expectations and desires make me happy, but mainly they make me tense. I start to strive for something and meanwhile, I forget to live. Just feel what happens in your body when you start a sentence with “I hope thatÂ…”
If you hang on to [...]

I need to remember that life is precious and short and lovely. Funny how remembering that can sometimes lift me up and sometimes make me hopelessly sad.
–Kat, Kat’s Paws
How well I can relate to that this morning. Yesterday I got a phone call from the radiologist who did my mammogram. She’d like me [...]

We have wonderful neighbors who cat-sit while we are out of town. Returning from our recent trip, we found L had purchased a cat toy: a mouse made of rug 9.5″ x 5″ with a spring and fuzzy ball on top. Well, this is the best toy ever, according to Stella. [...]