Inspired by and with excerpts from Tricycle, "Practicing Questioning", by Narayan Helen Liebenson.
Check in question: Who am I?
The beginning foundation—even if it doesn’t sound like a foundation—is actually the willingness not to know, or at least the willingness not to be certain. We st...
This post, the second of a two-part talk, draws from Brain Pickings post by Maria Popova.
4. Dare to take on the impossible.
Take on big jobs worth doing — jobs like the spread of love, peace, and justice. That means refusing to be seduced by our cultural obsession with being effective a...
This post, the first of a two-part talk, draws from Brain Pickings post by Maria Popova.
Book of Genesis
Suppose there was a book full only of the word, let – from whose clipped sound all things began: fir and firmament, feather, the first whale — and suppose we could scroll through its...
One of our greatest challenges is to understand the peculiar content of our own minds. We may look like the ultimate owners of our skulls, but we remain practical strangers to much of what unfolds within them...We are frequently the very last people to know what is at work with 'us'.
- Alain de...
This is an excerpt from Mary Oliver's poem, Gratitude:
What was most tender?
Queen Anne’s lace, with its parsnip root;
the everlasting in its bonnets of wool;
the kinks and turns of the tupelo’s body;
the tall, blank banks of sand;
the clam, clamped down.
- Mary Oliver, Gratitude
T...
What are some examples of a positive emotion for you?
Examples include feelings of gratitude, of peacefulness, of love and connection.
[Positive emotions] literally change the boundaries of our minds and our hearts and change our outlook on our environment...[they] change the way our minds a...
Exploring speech as a form of action and a mindfulness practice.
...Mindful communication takes two premises as its starting point: 1) that speech and relationship are a powerful vehicle for spiritual transformation; and 2) that effective communication is a learned skill.
- Oren Jay Sofer
I didn't want to figure out a talk for tonight! What did that feel like? Like this: "I have too many things to do." "I'm under a lot of pressure." "It's a lot of work and what if no one shows up?" "What if I do put in the time and don't like what I come up with?" Meet our familiar acquaintance, Res...
Stop Being Aware
Try this: close your eyes or look away from the screen, and stop being aware. Don't be aware of anything inside or outside of you.
Q: How did that go?
Of course, you can't actually stop awareness because, well, it's fundamentally who you are. It's a bit like saying "don't ex...
This practice is a version of tong-len, sending and receiving, adapted from "Breath of Compassion" in the Levey's Simple Meditation & Relaxation.
This practice works by reconnecting us to a larger field of relationship and a vaster sense of ourselves...helps to build our capacity to transfor...