A Mindful Life

About the spiritual training of young, my view is a bit of the same. How you behave in your home is their spiritual upbringing. I think we have to be careful with all forms of ideological indoctrination, and that is what spiritual training is in children: the imposition of a set of abstract beliefs and [...]

No Ordinary Life Drink some coffee light a candle Rain patters light a candle Cat purrs light a candle A child’s party light a candle Eat cake light a candle Buy groceries light a candle Fold laundry light a candle Clean the bathroom light a candle Pay bills light a candle Read books light a [...]

I protect my child as much as possible. Therefore, I have chosen not to tell her about yesterday’s tragedy. At age five, she simply does not need to know. What happened is incomprehensible to me, an adult; she would only personalize the information and worry for her own safety. I cannot make the world safe, [...]

Today, for whatever reason, I am feeling how we all struggle to be here. How much we need to love each other, and how we need to practice that love in deed and word. Once upon a time I struggled to meet my basic needs while working to reach some lofty goals. My life, through [...]

Claire at 5 Months / 4.5″ x 7″ pencil on sketch paper I have very little experience with drawing, especially sketching portraits. I can see how the lips, forehead, and eyes are slightly out of proportion, and I didn’t capture the tilt of her head, and I don’t have the essence of the slightly inquisitive [...]

Lately I’ve been hearing two Tracy Chapman songs on an endless loop in my head. So I’m sharing. Turn the volume up and take the ten minutes listen, really listen. Embed not working: Try this. Embed not functioning? Try this.

This year, Claire has discovered a show called Octonauts. She passionately loves this show, and most particularly enjoys pretending to be the intrepid pirate cat named Kwazii. The Octonauts are undersea explorers who help aquatic life in trouble and learn about the ocean. So when I asked if she wanted to be Kwazii for Halloween, [...]

“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” -John Steinbeck Been on the road and in the air a bunch this summer. School starts for Claire on August 20. Kindergarten, all day, everyday. A big journey ahead!

I happened across a post on Deepak Chopra’s website where someone asked why we are given the parents we have. Putting aside the knowledge that the question “why” is a sticky, tangly, distracting web, (it doesn’t really free a person, it simply looks for a place to park blame — on oneself or another — [...]