A Mindful Life

Me and Kiki, the family cat, just after Christmas 1982. The state of my life: I was 19, working as a dental assistant, earning $2.30 per hour, living with my parents, paying my room and board, feeling alienated from my religion, and grappling with my identity. I did not have a driver’s license or a [...]

If you have a child in school or know of one, you will appreciate the fun of The Flat Stanley Project. It’s awesome. In the author’s words:
More than thirty years ago, I was saying goodnight to my now grown-up sons, J.C. and Tony (Flat Stanley is dedicated to them), and JC stalling for my chat [...]

Created by Aaron Sorkin, who wrote almost every episode during the show’s first four seasons, “The West Wing” was a valentine to public service and politics as Americans would like it to be. The Bartlet administration had its weaknesses and limitations — arrogance and indecisiveness, just for starters — but those who worked in the [...]

The Tenderloin knows the struggling merchants, harbors the drug deals and feels the pain of the drunk who lacks a way or a will to survive. The Tenderloin shoulders the despair of the youth shot down by the new knowledge that a virus hides in the blood, and understands the fear that expensive drugs affordable [...]

In autumn 2004, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom established a bimonthly event called Project Homeless Connect. Every six weeks hundreds of volunteers gather at a central location to provide homeless people with immediate care and further referrals to local agencies. Since its inception, the project has helped over 8,000 clients.
Among the services a client can [...]

A corner of my parents’ garden, 2005

Working in a garden… gives me a profound feeling of inner peace. Nothing here is in a hurry. There is no rush toward accomplishment, no blowing of trumpets. Here is the great mystery of life and growth. Everything is changing, growing, aiming at something, but silently, unboastfully, taking its [...]

One of the chief reasons we have so much anguish and difficulty in facing death is that we ignore the truth of impermanence.
In our minds, changes always equal loss and suffering. And if they come, we try to anesthetize ourselves as far as possible. We assume, stubbornly and unquestioningly, that permanence provides security and impermanence [...]

I worked today. Since starting my job I’ve participated in several projects yet have been too tired to write much. I will write about past projects, but to avoid the “too far behind” syndrome I’ll start with today’s.
Dawn was damp and gray. The temperature was mild and the roads lightly wet as I drove to [...]

As I forecast, my energy and ability to keep up with TAW while acclimating to my new job has been less than ideal. I wrote daily pages one day out of seven. I’m okay with that; I don’t feel guilty or as though I’m failing. I have missed handwriting in my journal, however — something [...]

One of the many jellyfish photos taken at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in December.