. Lately, I’ve been counting my blessings. Walking kitchen scraps out to the compost, I thank the Gods and spirits who bless the garden that grows our food and offers shelter to many birds. I thank the sun and water. I count as blessings my health,  partners and friends, drive, creativity, birds, music, movement, students, clients, and the great return to silence. Two things increase my sense of happiness: many years of meditation, contemplation, and prayer, plus the knowledg

Have you ever felt like just giving up? I get notes from people saying they just can’t try, that trying is for the privileged, or the healthy, or the young. They don’t have the money, or the joint mobility, or the stamina, or the time. I feel sympathetic to these notes, and to the pain and tears in the eyes of the people who tell me their stories in person. There is a lot to feel overwhelmed by. Lately, I have noticed my own minor irritation at some of the public people I loo

A Muslim friend once translated the adhan, or Call to Prayer as: “Come to prayer! Come to your success!” It has stayed with me for many years, this concept that making the effort to show up to practice opens the way to success. Not only have we shown up to ourselves, but the sacred has a chance to show up for us as well. When are we not showing up? When are we avoiding our success? We aren’t late to meet friends for dinner, so why do we put off working on our novel? We aren’t

There are many books written on self-love, probably more than are written on selfishness, though we could likely debate that. I’m not here to debate that. I am here to enjoin us toward the love of self that enables us to better love each other. I’m here to ask us all: are we not part of God Herself? Are we not an integral part of creation and the unfolding of the patterns of life? Really. Why are we here? We are here to find and follow our destiny. We are here to listen to de

Sometimes we must move forward into will without a full sense of knowing our desire. We have a subtle wish, or an unnameable yearning, or we just know there is destiny out there, somewhere. Or sometimes we are just dissatisfied and want something more. All of these point to, and can stand in for, what may look or feel like a deeper or more profound desire. pic by Scott Liddell Here’s the secret: We always begin where we are. I know someone who is actively seeking out a new ca

photo by Forrest Sargent I want to tell you today of the child of a magician who has learned to make his own magick. Whenever you or I feel frustrated that we cannot communicate clearly, I want us to think of this young man, Forrest. I want us to look at our struggles, and to remind ourselves, that with enough will, and some help, we can create anything. We can do anything. Whether people see or read or hear what we intended, is not up to us, what is up to us, is that we spea

Emeryville Taiko by Pato Man Upon invitation to join a Japanese New Year’s celebration, I went to see mochi pounding and hear a Taiko performance. The sweet rice was pounded in rhythm in the smoothed out hollow of a tree stump. We ate it, fresh and warm, wrapped around sweet bean paste. But that satisfaction is not what this story is about. This story is about how application of will, how showing up every day, how training with as much presence as possible, how noticing the s