This is the ‘prayer’ I’m offering each day over my dozen names, during Lent. It’s the first Buddhist prayer I learned, and remains my favourite. Whenever I’m very stressed, this is what I repeat. It  isn’t a prayer in the sense that it’s directed at an outside force; it’s more ‘s a mantra, which is…

Sometimes, when things really cut deep, I try to compartmentalise. I want to be the oyster: coat pain and irritation w/ something soothing, wall it off. I wish the boxes produced pearls… Other times, everything bleeds together. A bit like writing w/ ink on damp paper…You know: you put the pen on the page and…

I usually try to keep Lent in some fashion. It’s a wonderful practice, to offer up a piece of your everyday life for good. To think of your everyday life as a kind of, well, prayer. As a Buddhist, I don’t know that I ‘pray,’ in the Christian definition of prayer. I don’t believe in…

I wish I could persuade politicians to adopt this song as the campaign year’s anthem… I’m not holding my breath. Here’s the deal: I have friends with whom I argue constantly. And a cousin whose political and spiritual beliefs are pretty much 180˚ from mine. But notice the operative word: friend. We try hard to…

More from Beliefnet and our partners
More from Beliefnet and our partners