Today is the 80th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet. I am honored to say that my article— What Do You Give To a Man Who Has Nothing? —has just been published on elephantjournal.com. ……………………… What Do You Give a Man Who Have Nothing? The Wall St. Journal had an article on […]
Posts in the blog category:
Finding Bodhichitta. Finding Love.
(Author’s Note, after the fact: I just counted 5 “fears”, 1 “fearless” and 5 “loves” in this post. You can’t have too much love, but 5 fears is crazy. This is not one of my better pieces.) I’ve been reading Buddhist beliefs lately, not in search of a new religion, but as a willing student […]
Thank Your Mother for your Sexual Freedom
Yes, your mother (or grandmother) made it possible for you to have one less worry in your wild life. Your mother made it possible for you to hook up with your lover without the fear of pregnancy. Your mother made it possible for you to complete the joy of intimacy by making a physical connection […]
Live the Island Life: Live Green. 10 Tips Learned from Island Living.
I confess that I am in the midst of a very long, ongoing love affair—with islands. Many islands. I have yielded to their temptation in many seas—some repeatedly—and each island has shared its unique characteristics abundantly and unabashedly. The most valued aspect of these island affairs is that they have taught me the principles of […]
Judge Not
Judge Not There was a man on the train platform. It doesn’t matter what race he was, or what age he was, or the color of his eyes. He approached me with calm determination and a vacant look. Me, in my traveler black with the silver suitcase and an American Express card in the zippered […]
On Euthanasia, A Good Day to Die
Friday was a brilliant day at the water’s edge on Puget Sound. Sparkling water, blue skies with cotton candy clouds. A contagious atmosphere of summer celebration was in the air as toddlers splashed at the edge of the icy water and a handful of sailboats marked the horizon. A busload of school kids was picnicking […]
What If We Don’t Live to be a Hundred?
“Old man take a look at my life I’m a lot like you I need someone to love me the whole day through Ah, one look in my eyes and you can tell that’s true.” Neil Young When we were young, the thought of growing old didn’t cross our minds- except perhaps in a romantic […]
Are We Weeds or Flowers?
When I moved to the Pacific Northwest last fall, I was unfamiliar with our King County noxious weeds, a group of plants quite different from the heat-loving weeds of the Ozarks from whence I traveled. As I became busy with the details of moving in, getting settled, and getting my life back on track, I […]
Family Secrets
Every family has its secrets. I often sat with my paternal Polish grandmother- Babci- at the round oak table in her kitchen, under the watchful eyes of Jesus and his Apostles. (All good Catholics had a framed print of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper hanging in their kitchen or dining room.) We shared a […]
Self-Image
This morning, while cleaning my bathroom, I accidentally glanced at the mirror and realized that it was splattered with a Jackson Pollack spray of white toothpaste dots, which I then proceeded to wipe away. A seemingly normal task. Not so normal for me. I’m one of the many adults and children with a misinformed self-image […]