“The trees are coming into leaf /Like something almost being said,” writes the poet Philip Larkin. Walking outside in spring can feel like walking into a big green, murmuring party. And it can bring a twist of longing. We want to be part of the conversation but we can’t quite hear what is being said.Continue reading “Spring as a Practice”
Tag Archives: Mindfulness Meditation
Snow Day Reflection
There are different kinds of realizations. They are not always lightening bolts but sometimes soft and slow, as if snow were quietly falling and settling. Softly and slowly, as we relax into our practice and our life, we can come to see and feel the way we habitually treat life as an enemy to beContinue reading “Snow Day Reflection”
The Space Between
“Between stimulus and response there is a space, “ writes psychiatrist and Holocaust-survivor Viktor Frankl in his unforgettable memoir, Man’s Search for Meaning. “In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” When we practice mindfulness meditation, we enter the conscious space between stimulus andContinue reading “The Space Between”
Coming in Peace, 2017
Why not start the New Year granting ourselves the blessing of being forgiven—free of any trace of the wounds and limitations we are all trailing due to what we been through and what we did and left undone? This may feel counter-intuitive, given all that has happened in 2016. But forgiveness, like gratitude, is aContinue reading “Coming in Peace, 2017”
Determination
“If we could surrender to Earth’s intelligence, we would rise up rooted, like trees.” –Rainer Maria Rilke When most of us think of determination, we think first of imposing our will on the world, insisting on a particular outcome, our vision. Yet real determination appears when we keep going, surrendering what the ego wants, whichContinue reading “Determination”
Soft
The root meaning of heal is to make whole. It doesn’t mean to be made new. Healing often leaves a scar. Illness and mishap and even great tragedy can lead us eventually from the pain of isolation to a greater wholeness. There is such a powerful tendency in our spiritual aspiration to climb up outContinue reading “Soft”
Tracy Cochran 