A Mindful Life

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), It’s always our self we find in the sea. – e.e. cummings Headed out to the beach: Getting cozy in the sand (she also made sand angels): Barely able to stay still for a photo-op with Mommy: Racing the waves: The sky was gray but [...]

We’ve been busy lately. There have been little-girl sleepovers, outings to the park, and a field trip to pick strawberries. So, without further ado, let me show you the results of our latest outing. We start at this and this: We picked nine pounds of strawberries! And proceed to this and this: A sticky, boiling [...]

There’s an ice cream truck that rolls through our neighborhood at a speed that makes it impossible to catch if we’re inside or the back yard. We’ve pretty much given up on it. There’s a man who walks through our neighborhood with a cart and a bell, whom we usually can reach in time. But [...]

Mine, all mine! At preschool, Claire had a tendency to hurtle into tears if a small thing didn’t go her way, or if she perceived some other child’s behavior as a slight. My response typically had been to croon, hug, and comfort. For instance, one day she brought a stuffed animal with her. In circle [...]

I’ve been sitting twice daily for 15 minutes each time. It’s possible that 14 days of daily meditation does not make an adequate sample for assessing results (although I was also told when I began an SSRI that the effects would probably not be felt for weeks and within one week I was experiencing vast [...]

For much of my life I’ve wandered on a spiritual journey without knowing quite where to go. One of the paths I began to explore in the late 1990s was meditation. I took a Vipassana meditation class, read books, and occasionally pretended to be serious about it. In 2003 I began this blog in part [...]

Dear Self, Please adjust your pace. Love, Me

My husband’s gift to me today, a “Fjellheim” Japanese Maple! I’ve named it Gaia — mother. We bought it locally, and I’m so happy with it! From this: To this: We’ve got much more planting to do, but first we needed to position the tree. This is the north side of the house, and most [...]

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children. – William Makepeace Thackeray And the card I sent to my mother: Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn, Hundreds of bees in the purple clover, Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn, But only one mother the wide world over. – [...]