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Tomorrow I, along with most of the United States, will celebrate Thanksgiving. This holiday is not unique to my country; it is celebrated in Canada, Grenada, Liberia, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and other countries in some form of expression of its cultural, religious roots. The intention of setting aside this day is to remember and […]

“The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.” -Pema Chodron, Buddhist Nun “We have been raised to have beliefs; that means we have conclusions rather than experience.” –Richard Rohr, Catholic Priest Definition of a Belief: Something I know to be true, but I can’t scientifically or objectively prove.

I was recently invited to speak to a group of inmates on the subject of loyalty. After accepting, I realized how little I knew about the subject. So I did some research. The dictionary gives 3 components of loyalty: there must be a cause to be loyal to, there must be a steadfast allegiance to

Guru:  that which brings understanding to our ignorance. Found:  in a child’s wonder, a teacher’s guidance, an inspirational reading, a friend’s empathy, an embodied person, the teacher within…. The Guru is the hidden force in a poem, a person, a gaze, or a conversation that lifts our spirits, inspires us to be greater than we

Another great soul has departed this earth.  I, along with many others, called her Mataji (beloved mother), and she was my teacher.  How do I talk about the depth of love she evoked in me?  How do I express her life-changing wisdom that guided my life in the direction of contentment?  Where do I find

I have been reading Philip Shepherd’s book New Self New World.  Along with many other observations, Shepherd notes that when humans learned how to build houses, the result was they successfully “created a space…that securely shut out the world of nature”.  Emphasizing this point, Shepherd adds that the Warumungu of Australia called white men “enclosure

As the New Year approaches it is easy to find ourselves thinking about the things we “should” do next year.  Our shortcomings become the guiding frame of our New Year’s focus, and our energy goes into efforts at improvement. What if we did something entirely different this year?  What if, instead of imposing improvement on