We moved here about two years ago. Many of our neighbors are second or third generation here, others are more recent, but we are definitely the new kids on the block. You remember what it is like to be the new kid. When I am going into new situations I often begin...
Sometimes my mind loves black and white thinking. And sometimes I hate that it does. And no, the irony of this is not lost on me. If I am thinking “mindlessly,” meaning without mindful awareness, my mind loves to decide right/wrong, good/bad, like/don’t like. Not...
Kindness. It sometimes feels like a “have to” or a “should." Forced kindness can feel terrible and can evoke the thought of laying myself down at the feet of someone harsh and uncaring, and saying, “No, really. I don’t mind. You can walk on me--I like it…..”...
I am running errands, driving to REI to return some uncomfortable hiking pants. It is a very average day. I’m listening to a talk about mindful parenting with Jack Kornfield. He is telling a story of a mother speaking very harshly to her child. The mother in Jack’s...
I overheard some women talking in a café. They were swapping stories about their neighbors. Apparently one of the women has a neighbor, as she described it, with “a slight case of obsessive-compulsive disorder”… “She keeps her yard immaculate”. She continued to say. ...
I spent “a week in paradise” over the winter holidays… you might think, as I did, that this would be a week full of relaxation and Peace and a general feeling of “everything is great”. Well it was… some of the time… other times it was a tug of war in my mind and the...
My friend joked with me recently, when I told her about a big project I am working on, “Don’t you think you are being an overachiever?” I bet that many of us can answer “YES” to that question about some, or maybe even many, areas of our lives. Is this striving habit...
Many of us feel stressed during the holidays. We feel family pressure, social pressure, stress about gifts, stress about resolutions… Just last week, while at a holiday gathering I felt the familiar feeling of what I call “leaving yourself” this is when my inner...