A friend indeed
I've been thinking about friends and friendship. It feels to me as if "friend" is a woefully overused term and "friendship" can sound...
The beginning of compassion
I've often thought that April 1 would make a much more logical New Year's Day than January 1. It's spring, things are starting to grow,...
Hidden from view
I am reminded by springtime how much is hidden from view. Buds emerge on the branches, shoots poke up through the dirt. Suddenly birds...
Shades of my father
This week, I had the sublimely intriguing task of transcribing a short journal of my father's. In 1952, he was a 28-year-old veteran,...
What year is it? It's yours to decide.
Happy 2017 to you. Yesterday was the beginning of the new year; the new Gregorian year, that is. Since 1582, that's the calendar many...
Thank you, Donald J Trump
For me, as for many others, this presidential campaign has been the most upsetting and distressing in a lifetime thanks to Donald Trump....
The reason everything happens
You've probably heard people say, "Everything happens for a reason." I think I know what the reason is. Last week, all my anxiety about...
Invite your guests in! Get to know every one of them.
Do you know this poem, The Guest House? This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness,...
On compassion for the journey
Yesterday, as you know, was the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attack. Ever since then, on the anniversary I always find myself feeling...
Compassion for others begins with compassion for ourself
I am reading a remarkable book called The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche, and, as with Coelho's The Alchemist, I'm a...
