A Mindful Life

I noticed this rainbow but could not determine its source. The splash of color in an unexpected place required documentation! I think the fuzziness of the picture complements the rainbow’s loveliness.

The memoir group I established met tonight for the first time. A total of four women, we make an intimate group. Before the meeting, we were completely unknown to each other (they’d replied to my invitation on Craigslist). Thus, founding such a circle is an adventure, at least with regard to personality. As it turned [...]

Religious laws, in all the major traditions, have both a letter and a spirit. As I understand the words and example of Jesus, the spirit of a law is all-important, whereas the letter, while useful in conjunction with spirit, becomes lifeless and deadly without it. In accord with this distinction, a yearning to worship in [...]

To live with the conscious knowledge of the shadow of uncertainty, with the knowledge that disaster or tragedy could strike at any time; to be afraid and to know and acknowledge your fear, and still to live creatively and with unstinting love: that is to live with grace.
–Peter Abrahams

While it’s been lovely having company, showing my mother-in-law the sights and a peek into our lives, I dearly need my routine again. I am an introvert. Anytime I doubt this I need only to have extended, face-to-face contact with a person; I wilt. I need expanses of solitude. I do enjoy particular people, but [...]

Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Tact is the art of making guests feel at home when that’s really where you wish they were.
–Anonymous

When Mike Kuniavsky bought the Internet domain tired.com from a friend in November 1997, he wasn’t planning to set up an anonymous confessional. He wasn’t planning anything at all.
–Paul Boutin, So Tired: Where Web Surfers Go When They Haven’t Slept a Wink
Are you tired?

Personal almsgiving and the most wide-ranging social work are equally justifiable and necessary. The way to God lies through love of other people and there is no other way.
–Mother Maria of Paris

Read more about this folk art masterpiece here.