Have you ever seen a Chinese painting of a plum tree? I used to brush paint plum branches when I was learning how to apply ink to paper with a brush and come out with something beautiful. The Chinese plum tree doesn’t grow in nice, smooth, flowing lines. The branches are full of sharp angles […]
“I want to get out of here! This is the 70’s all over again!” The year was 2004 and I was at a healing retreat, but it was a reprise of everything I had not liked in the 1970’s. In the 70’s, Esalen in Big Sur on the California coast, was becoming famous as a
Last month I talked about growing new leaves on our Soul-tree. But growing new leaves isn’t always easy, and sometimes our painstakingly tended branches may be clipped off our tree by unforeseen events. The Divine Gardener may have a different plan about how our Soul-tree will flourish. Often we do not see the great Pruning
“I’m so vulnerable. I have no self-confidence and I cry all the time for no reason.” Tears filled the eyes of the young woman with long brown hair and plastic-rimmed glasses hiding her child-like blue eyes. We were at a retreat in Marin County in Northern California, where we were exploring “Transparent Communication.” This person
Last night I was watching a special program about Judy Garland on public television. Judy’s role as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, which has become the myth of our time, was the introduction to the program. Whether Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz or Dorothy Seeger, or some other Dorothy, it doesn’t matter. The
Last month we suggested that, instead of Occupying Wall Street or Hong Kong, we focus on occupying ourselves. What does “Occupy Yourself” mean? It means to live inside your own body, to live in your heart. To connect with others from the heart, and to listen to what your own Internal Guidance System is saying.
We have had “Occupy Wall Street” and “Occupy Washington”, but we have never had “Occupy Yourself.” Instead, we are the ones who are occupied – by worries about money, relationships, children, work, and by the News. These worries are the terrorists who hold us hostage. What ransom can we pay to free ourselves?
Where are your bubbles? As we go about our daily life, there are bubbles all around us, but do we see them? Do we experience their bubbleness? Or are we too rushed, too busy thinking, too occupied with our worries, our responsibilities, our have-nots to notice them? Fleeting moments cross our path – a black
“It is so dark here.” -It was my 16 year old son speaking to me… We were standing in front of our modest 4-bedroom home in Manhattan Beach in sunny Southern California. Across the street the oleanders lining the old railway embankment were in full bloom, a brilliant hedge of bright pink and white extending
When you open a window to your heart, you may be surprised at what you see inside. A few days ago I was participating in a Kyudo (Japanese archery) seminar. In Kyudo the idea is not so much to hit the outer target, as it is to realize the inner target, the Soul. At dinner
Yesterday I was driving down Solano Avenue, a two-lane boulevard, the Main Street of Albany, California. Lined with prosperous specialty shops and restaurants of every description, it stretches in a straight line from the hills at the top to the ocean at the end. I was with two friends, fellow students of Kyudo, Japanese archery,
When I was little, my mother once asked me to bring a jar of tomatoes from the storage cellar. I started down the steep stairway, but as I descended, the door at the top of the stairs closed behind me with a bang. The storage room was totally dark and I didn’t know how to