Imagine this: your teacher brings you to the middle of a forest and tells you to hug a tree. He says, “Stay here until I come back,” giving you no information about how long he’ll be gone or what you’re supposed to do, what you’re supposed to learn. So you sit, arms wrapped around bark,…
I've been sitting with this question, trying to open to (per Rumi) what will happen instead of planning or trying to direct what I will find in meditation. I ran across this quote, an epigraph to Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones, and I felt it articulated something I had been encountering -- the "eye" of…
This morning, I lost my keys. I looked everywhere, and as the minutes passed into an hour, the thoughts mounted. I need to take the dog out. Now my peaceful morning is already ruined. Is there an extra set somewhere? What if something happens and I'm locked inside the gate? I can't even write all…
How easy it is to be "our best selves!" isolated in our own rooms with the curtains drawn and everything sailing along smoothly; it's comforting to feel in control and safe. But, as Charles Ringma writes: We can create a very safe world for ourselves. We establish our work routines. Cultivate a few friendships. Develop certain family…
Today's quote is a bit different: it's from Netflix's Chef's Table, an inspiring series about creativity, innovation, and following inspiration to form one's own path. Volume 1 Episode 3 features Francis Mallmann, a well-known Argentinian chef who lives in a wood cabin in the Patagonian wilderness and cooks with traditional methods, with an open, outside…
Simple and Forgotten Things 