Letting go Hearing the bell, I am able to let go all my afflictions, My heart is calm, my sorrows ended, I am not longer boound to anything. I learn to listen to my suffering and the suffering of another person. When understanding is born in me, compassion is also born. Thich Nhat Hanh
Even when you see nothing but love Love where you’re at Even when you see nothing put pain Love where you’re at When you’re not sure where to start When you’re not sure when to finish Love where you’re at Over the hill is greener grass Up in the sky are clearer skies Deep in…
It was 1989, and time to come up with a name for my just-born son. In an move I’ve never regretted, we named him Seamus (Shay for short), and though we agreed we weren’t naming him after anyone specific, it was cool that his name echoed this fellow from Ireland, who passed away in 2016. During…
Mysteries, Yes by Mary Oliver Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood. How grass can be nourishing in the mouths of the lambs. How rivers and stones are forever in allegiance with gravity while we ourselves dream of rising. How two hands touch and the bonds will never be broken. How people…
Puddle love. My friend Ellen is doing her teaching practicum at a pre-school…I asked her what interesting happened today. She said she told a kid today that it wasn’t a great idea to drink out of a puddle. She brought years of biology (germs!), geology (mud!), anthropology (the other kids don’t seem to want to…
When I was in Chattanooga in the time after Mom & Dad made their transitions, I found some of my writing in an old ‘memory box’ from grade two (at St Gerard’s in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia), but it wasn’t writing like you expect. I had gotten in trouble or something, so Sister had made me…
I love this story – it reminds of my Dad & his classic car club. (That’s his ’22 Model T in the picture, by the way…his first car!) It’s the kind of tale he’d mention, when I needed biz advice: A father said to his daughter, “You have graduated with honors, here is a…
Most of us will do anything to avoid being wrong. But what if we’re wrong about that? “Wrongologist” Kathryn Schulz makes a compelling case for not just admitting but embracing our fallibility. I always like her work with Grist – when you check this out, you’ll see why.
Late last night, I was in the middle of a dream when the cat yowled at a raccoon outside. Kinda cool, because that helped me remember what was happening in the dream: There was a stream next to a tree with roots that were above ground (some of ’em, or they wouldn’t be called roots) in…
Over the years, little bits of things make a bit more sense. Time passes & experience grows, as I watch the way others do things & I do things, in this play we write each day, together. Since I was a young monk, my parents sent me to Roman Catholic schools, even though we were…