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Beginner's Heart

I’m often apalled by what people say to each other on Facebook.  And the comments to online articles? Wow. My Aunt Bonnie would have washed my mouth out with soap! So I ask myself: what’s up w/ folks who are sooo hateful? Are they like that in person? And of course, they’re (usually) not. Because…

We began working with this island at least five years ago (time blurs when you’re having a good time). First we had to dig up the sod, then plant the crape myrtles. Then we had to figure out the ground cover. The first year we tried mulch over ground cloth. That did NOT work. Don’t…

I love Tolstoy. And I especially love this very Buddhist saying. Because the writer in me knows that every time I pick up a pen, or sit down to a keyboard, I’m going to change. It’s inevitable, like the sun rising in the east. It may well be why I write: after all these years,…

By now, I’m sure most of America has heard of the two daddy penguins, Roy & Silo, who loved each other and raised little Tango. Who was, just FYI, no blood kin. And that’s today’s post: mothering beyond biology. Because I have many friends (& family) who feel bruised, ignored, and downright out-of-the-club because they…

Today at the Farmer’s Market I picked up some bronze fennel. I used to have swathes of the stuff, but over the past couple of weird winters it’s died out. Which is sad, because not only is it very pretty, but swallowtail butterfly caterpillars LOVE it. Which brings me to today’s lesson in beginner’s heartedness:…

My whole family is nuts over housewares. Not just the women, either: my sons both asked for cast iron skillets. They also received teapots/ kettles/ and/or tea sets when they moved into apartments. When I went to my elder son’s last month, I took linens for the new house. So it’s not just me, my…

One of the many small epiphanies I think of as ‘baby’ enlightenments was when I realised that first & foremost — before anything else — the Buddha was a teacher. As was Jesus. I know Christians think of Jesus first as the son of God. But for me it’s the teaching thing: he was a…

I’m giving away my books. A LOT of my books. Even the ones I did my graduate work on. Even the ones that saved my life. I’m also giving away what scrapbookers call ephemera: my mother’s passport, someone’s international driver’s license from a very long time ago. Earrings I’ll never wear, tea sets I never…

At some point, we need to stop identifying with our weaknesses and shift our allegiance to our basic goodness. ~ Pema Chodron I love this directive. And I especially like that it comes from a Buddhist thinker I so admire & respect. Because this, it seems to me, is the heart of the difference between…

Today, I’m breathing for those of you with stomach aches. Somehow, that helps. Really. Tonglen is, perhaps, the best manifestation of compassion I know. Stomach hurts? Offer it up for all those folks who have REALLY bad problems w/ their stomaches: starvation, cancer, the big deal aches. Breathe in pain, breathe out peace. Repeat. Mine…
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