Aligning with Grace

This time of year is often referred to as the High Holy Days by my Jewish sisters and brothers. Though I am not Jewish, I love many of the traditions and rituals of this season, especially those dealing with atonement, reconciliation, and forgiveness. It reminds me of the Sacrament of Reconciliation which I grew up with in my own tradition. Recently, I was reminded in a reading, that the Talmud calls for the expression and offering of no less than 100 blessings a day! So many traditional Jewish prayers are in fact blessings of one sort or another. To offer 100 prayers in a day may seem daunting. But if we considered blessing everything that we laid our eyes on during the course of our day, it might become easier than we thought possible... Bless every person you come across in a day. Take it one step further, and bless every sentient creature and being. Bless the bees for their function and how they contribute to the pollination of our food. Ble...

I wipe, and wipe, and try to clean mirrors and glass doors, to no avail. I remember a friend told me to use a razor blade to get the soap scum off of shower doors. Feeling overwhelmed from being pulled in many directions for a while, I decide I need a task that will provide an outlet for all my frustrations. So I go to Home Depot to buy a really big razor blade designed to scrape tiles and glass doors. I come home, and settle down to my designated task. and remember a yoga teacher that once taught his students that holding up a mirror will always show us where it is we need to do our work. So I work at cleaning the very big contractor mirror in my bathroom, that twenty-seven years ago seemed like a good idea. And then I get down on my hands and knees and commence scraping years of build up that I neglected to really see and which has occluded my vision. Ironically, I have an eye doctor appointment scheduled for tomorrow. It seems my eyesight has dramatically changed for the w...

Accept what is. As it is. In this moment. Now! This is what comes to me on my drive back from my weekly meditation group. it is an "aha!" moment! It is an unexpected Eureka experience. And all of it seems so crystal clear to me - and easy! Except that it isn't. But in the moment I held that thought - which came to me uninvited, it did seem so easy.  I saw myself sitting contently - watching thoughts go by like clouds on a sunny day - thoughts coming and going. I simply observed them for a while, and then thought to myself:  "All pain, and sadness comes to us  because we do not accept what is.  And really, that is all we have to do,   is simply accept what is.  AS IT IS.  In this moment.  And that moment.  And EVERY moment.  Now!" Could it really be that simple? Well, there is only one way to find out! I will just have to try it!  I will have to commit to letting ...

We live in perilous times, or so it seems. But if truth be told, we are always in the midst of conflicts somewhere on our planet. It just seems that everything appears more persistent and in our face constantly. Like many, I am overwhelmed by the suffering of those in the path of destruction everywhere - certainly those in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey who will spend months if not years trying to recovery from the devastation - but elsewhere as well. The constant struggles in the Middle East and Africa don't always get our attention - such as the cholera epidemic in Yemen, and the endless civil war in Syria, but they are no less deserving of our compassion and assistance. The truth is, many are suffering everywhere - and we often forget they are our brothers and sisters. They need our positivity, our well wishes - but most especially our lending hands and the sharing of our resources. We must be Good Samaritans. There is a beautiful meditation practice often referred to...

Happiness is, more often than not, elusive. But it really depends on how we define it - or what we think makes us happy. This morning, I read an interview with Oprah Winfrey. The interviewer had to wait for her to finish a photo shoot with the esteemed Annie Liebovitz, who was very apologetic for keeping Oprah longer than expected. Oprah's response caught me my surprise. She told Liebovitz not to worry. While she was with her, she was fully present to those moments and those experiences. Later she would be with the interviewer, and then she would be fully present in that moment with him, no longer thinking or concerned with the photo shoot.  This is the first key to happiness I thought, being fully in the moment. Not in the past - and not in the future. That is not to say that this is an easy task! Earlier this week, I listened to a webinar where the presenter said something very similar. She noted the past does not exist - it is only a memory we insist on bringing back t...

I rise in the early dawn and go for a walk, in the crisp cool air.  The sun is rising a little later than it did three weeks ago, and the the coolness of the morning and delayed dawning, serve as a reminder that the fall season is not far behind. I receive subtle messages with every step I take it seems, but the one that is thrusted upon me most powerfully is simply this: "Your life matters. Your work matters. Whom you touch - and reach,  all throughout the world, matters." It's message will not be ignored. Those on the other side seem to be literally yelling it into my ears. And so it comes up again and again in various permutations. "Everything you do, matters." Nothing that I - or you do - is without significance. Each one of our actions has an impact. And I believe, if we put all of our actions together in the balance, for most of us, the good deeds outweigh the bad. Really. There are few exceptions. This I believe. Firmly. Strongly... ...

Re-entries from vacations are always hard. At least for me. I spent two weeks visiting loved ones, walking several beaches for hours, generally disconnected from the news and media. It was heaven! I lived in an alternative universe. One where all was well... I came back to a generally quiet week of doing laundry, catching up with household chores and getting re-acquainted with my previous rhythm. I relished the silence and lack of appointments and commitments to slowly gather my bearings, coming back to a very different plane of existence. I had a week to re-adjust with a lot of time to walk, reflect, write, and meditate - gratefully living the life of a true contemplative. Luckily, I have one more week of relative quiet, and then I hit the ground running with a flurry of activities as the summer fades and I head into the fall. I reminded myself almost hourly to breathe. Every day as soon as I awoke, I expressed gratitude for the experiences and connections I was able to make...