Damian Echols spent 18 years in prison for murders he didn't commit and was freed nearly two
years ago. He lived on Death Row, and he suffered physically and mentally, he says. To cope with that, he learned eastern methods of working with the body...
"Try, Try, Try for Ten Thousand Years"
From this day forthuntil I attain the very heart of enlightenment,12 pm T-storms1pm T-stormsAnd did you get whatyou wanted from this life, even so?
This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, About Living a Compassionate Life is a witty and thoughtful meditation on living an ethical life in a challenging world.
I have both a meditation and a writing practice, and sometimes if I’m not careful I attempt to multitask and write while I meditate. Well, not actually write, but think about writing, think about my writing, and come up with the most brilliant ideas...
Joss Whedon delivered the commencement speech last month at Wesleyan University. As you might expect, from the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and The Avengers, it wasn't what you'd expect. He reflects on the commencement speech at his...
Riot Grrrl was an early-Nineties feminist movement that used punk music, zines, and a do-it-yourself ethic to wake up young women (and men) to the realities of violence against women in our society. It revealed a lineage of feminist history that is...
Mark Sanford, who on Tuesday was elected to Congress by South Carolina voters, reveals he turned to meditation after the spectacular implosion of his political career as governor of that state after the revelation of his trip to Argentina in pursuit...
A Poem:
I am brave, I am braveI am willing to be braveI am sorry, I am sorryI am willing to be sorryI am willing to lookunderneath and in betweenthe covers and the kitchen cupboardknow what I mean?I love myself with whimsy and Ilove you just the...
My non-practicing Jewish grandparents used to come to synagogue on Friday nights just to hear me sing in the youth choir. “You were the littlest one up there, but you had the biggest voice,” my grandma tells me. That might be true, or it might be...
Good morning or afternoon or evening, Contemplation Station travelers. We took advantage of current research into warp drive technology and got the train ready for space travel. Now, as you can see, we are orbiting Tau Ceti — we are like another...
People consider conscious rap now, in hip-hop circles, to feel condescending or feel like not a part of the mainstream. So the challenge for me is, "How do I be as good or better than these rappers out here?" and "How do I stay relevant with my...
Please come out and support this wonderful and thought provoking film. It will only be screening through this coming Thursday [My 9th] at Cinema Village on 12th Street.
Yesterday, a friend sent me this beautiful poem by Thich Nhat Hanh. You can read the moving intro here, where Thay, as he is affectionately known, writes about a young girl and a pirate, and how there is more to the story than the victim/...
I've been struck lately by how much gratitude and connection I've felt when faced with tough things. I'm a therapist, who works with kids and teens, and while I work with issues of sexual abuse every day, I've had a host of really horrific and...
Last week I attended my first 'weekthun,' or weeklong meditation retreat in the Shambhala tradition. In order to honor the silent aspect of the retreat, I attempted to read only dharma books.
I drive a lot in LA, which means my podcast listening habits have become more spontaneous than they were in NYC, where subway commuting meant planning ahead and downloading. This morning while driving my daughter to day care, I heard David Sedaris...
Lately I’ve been considering what next steps to take in my life. I've been asking those big, annoying questions that I only half believe are valid, but that half is really loud and convincing. “What should I do (with my life)?” I never...
I'm obsessively checking my Twitter feed for updates on Boston and Watertown. To me, here in New York, events of this week feel both close to home and far away. This poem by Mary Oliver keeps coming into my head.
Beyond the Snow Belt
"Peace is an internal process that begins with our own heart and hands in the way we touch other and interact with the community around us." -- Urban Zen website
