A Mindful Life

THE AFTERLIFE They’re moving off in all imaginable directions, each according to his own private belief, and this is the secret that silent Lazarus would not reveal: that everyone is right, as it turns out. you go to the place you always thought you would go, the place you kept lit in an alcove in [...]

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.

To sit without emotion, hope or aim, In the loved presence of my cottage fire, And listen to the flapping of the flame, Or kettle whispering its faint under song. –William Wordsworth

A small speckled visitor Wearing a crimson cape. Brighter than a cherry Smaller than a grape. A polka-dotted someone Walking on my wall. A black-hooded lady In a scarlet shawl. –Joan Walsh Anglund

As Claire gets older and encounters the world, I find myself thinking that I need an exorcism of my past. That sounds drastic, yes? Claire displays an intensity and sensitivity that I recognize. I observe how she interacts with kids at school, and I feel painful echoes. I want so much not to project my [...]

The child is made of one hundred. The child has a hundred languages, a hundred hands, a hundred thoughts, a hundred ways of thinking, of playing, of speaking. A hundred, always a hundred, ways of listening, of marveling, of loving, a hundred joys for singing and understanding, a hundred worlds to discover, a hundred worlds [...]

The greatest poem ever known Is one all poets have outgrown: The poetry, innate, untold, Of being only four years old. –Christopher Morley, To a Child

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 [...]

I overheard Claire singing a made-up tune while she was looking at the Olivia book while on the potty. I took notes. Sometimes it even rhymes! The stanza breaks are mine based on when I heard her pause. My Sunshine Girl is not only a scientist, but also a lyricist and composer! I can hardly [...]