A Mindful Life

One scarlet pearl forms like a secret emerging from a holy place. “Ouch!” by Frank Kolodziej c2003 / Exit Wound

I just returned from my first sesshin at Hazy Moon Zen Center. It was fruitful. I’m tired and glad to be home. All that I experienced is settling, so I hesitate to write extensively about it. Here are some brief reflections. The first one is from my drive down, when I stopped at San Luis [...]

“When you have completed 95 percent of your journey, you are only halfway there.” – Japanese Proverb

Today Claire asked to make Simba, from the Lion King. She hasn’t seen the movies but is obsessed with the songs, especially The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Hakuna Matata, and He Lives In You. She wanted to also make his father and an elephant friend. Thank goodness for paper plates, construction paper, glue and paint! Claire [...]

Amid cow patties flies pester eyes, nose, mouth, hide- ear pierced with numbers. There is only this moment, chewing cud, swishing tail. A small stone for today.

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” –A.A. Milne What do you do on a restless Monday afternoon? You drive to Chesbro Reservoir to throw sticks and leaves in [...]

We live in a world where volcanoes have feet and personalities, mold grows in families and the members have names, and the Crab Nebula — where Claire wants to go — is also named Lily and is very friendly. Did you know that there are blue volcanoes that produce blue lava, and that blue lava [...]

On Saturday, Claire and I went to Lakeshore Learning to do a free craft. I’d forgotten they offer these every Saturday, which is okay, because every time I visit I am lured by all the tempting teacher goodies, craft supplies, and games. But we went, and Claire made herself a T. Rex, and after that [...]

Kids are cute, babies are cute, puppies are cute. The little things are cute. See, nature did this on purpose so that we would want to take care of our young. Made them cute. Tricked us. Then gradually they get older and older, until one day your mother sits you down and says, “You know, [...]

Ah, the capriciousness of a preschooler’s opinions! When Claire is going through particular physical developments — such as learning to use scissors, cutting with a plastic knife, and so on, I’ve noticed our relationship hits an emotional roller coaster. Just last night as I tucked Claire in, we enjoyed the sweetest exchange. Me: “Night night [...]