Jul 19: Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, The River Of Silence (4248 reads)
Death, whether our own or others, can be a powerful gateway to complete tenderness. The confrontation with the impermanence of all things is perhaps the widest gate to liberation from suffering....

Jul 12: Brother David Steindl-Rast, The Great Gesture That Unites Us (5748 reads)
I recognize, I acknowledge, I am grateful; in French these three concepts are expressed by one term: “Je suis reconnaissant.” I recognize the special quality of this joy: It is a joy...

Jul 05: Cynthia Bourgeault, Heart Is Not About Emotions (5221 reads)
"Put the mind in the heart." From page after page in the Philokalia, that hallowed collection of spiritual writings from the Christian East, this same refrain emerges. It is striking in...

Jun 28: Adam Grant, Virtues Are Like Vitamins (4954 reads)
Virtues can be a little bit like vitamins. Vitamins are essential for health. But what if you get more than your body needs? If you take too much Vitamin C, it won’t hurt you. If you overdose...

Jun 21: Shunryu Suzuki, Just Become A Swinging Door (6153 reads)
When we practice [meditation] our mind always follows our breathing. When we inhale, the air comes into our inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world. The inner world is...

Jun 14: Virginia Satir, I Am Me (6155 reads)
I am me. In all the world, there is no one exactly like me. There are persons who have some parts like me, but no one adds up exactly like me. Therefore, everything that comes out of me is...

Jun 07: Todd Henry, Die Empty (6319 reads)
I remember a meeting in which a friend asked a strange and unexpected question: “What do you think is the most valuable land in the world?” Several people threw out guesses, such as...

May 31: Jack Kornfield, Path With Heart (7647 reads)
In undertaking a spiritual life, what matters is simple: We must make certain that our path is connected with our heart. In the end, spiritual life is not a process of seeking or gaining some...

May 24: Jason Garner, Practice Over Parables (5749 reads)
A Zen teacher once told me something interesting. We were meditating together at my home when my dog began to bark. He sensed my agitation and said in his rich Tasmanian accent, “Don’t...

May 17: Richard Rohr, A Fixed Place To Stand (7096 reads)
Archimedes (c. 287–c. 212 BCE), a Greek philosopher and mathematician, noticed that if a lever was balanced in the correct place, on the correct fulcrum, it could move proportionally much...

May 10: Aryae Coopersmith, Run With The Unexpected (10464 reads)
So many portals to you Hindu, Jew, Sufi, Sikh, artist, lover, dancer, explorer, peace-warrior. Children, strangely familiar, are rushing up to greet and initiate you. Joyful...

May 03: Thich Nhat Hanh, See The Universe In A Sunflower (8369 reads)
I live in Plum Village, in the Dordogne region of southwest France, an area known for its sunflowers. But people who come to Plum Village in April do not see any sunflowers. They hear people saying...

Apr 26: Jan Richardson, Blessing For The Longest Night (7436 reads)
All throughout these months as the shadows have lengthened, this blessing has been gathering itself, making ready, preparing for this night. It has practiced walking in the dark,...

Apr 19: Hindu Parable (Author Unknown), Rich Man And The Beggar (7044 reads)
Many years ago, a man was sitting in quiet contemplation by a riverbank when he was disturbed by a beggar from the local village. “Where is the stone?” the beggar demanded. “I...

Apr 12: Kittisaro, Radical Reflection (6267 reads)
We feel we can capture something by thinking about it. In reality, when we grasp at thoughts, the very process of trying to possess a piece of life ensures that it continually eludes us. We can...

Apr 05: Akiko Busch, Invisibility In A Time Of Transparency (6390 reads)
What is the difference between being invisible and just landing in a blind spot? In the woods no more than an hour, I am struck anew by invisibility, and its improvisational choreography, as a...

Mar 29: Robert Sapolsky, Ambiguity Of Violence (5153 reads)
It is the ambiguity of violence, that we can pull a trigger as an act of hideous aggression or of self-sacrificing love, that is so challenging. As a result, violence will always be a part of the...

Mar 22: James O'dea, A Higher Level Of Conscious Engagement (15103 reads)
We live in an age of spiritual smorgasbord: People are mixing concepts, aphorisms, and insights from a broad variety of mystical and faith traditions. A blend of notions culled from many spiritual...

Mar 15: Paulo Coelho, Two Drops Of Oil (6332 reads)
A merchant sent his son to learn the Secret of Happiness from the wisest of men. The young man wandered through the desert for forty days until he reached a beautiful castle at the top of a...

Mar 08: Mirabai Starr, Thirsty For Wonder (6471 reads)
Contemplative life flows in a circular pattern: awe provokes introspection, which invokes awe. Maybe you’re making dinner and you step outside to snip chives from the kitchen garden just...

Mar 01: Rob Burbea, The False Dichotomy Between Being And Doing (7967 reads)
One believes that "being" and "doing" are different. Often, "just being" is regarded as preferable or somehow more authentic. With maturing of insight, however, one...

Feb 22: Sylvia Boorstein, If There Is No Self, Whose Arthritis Is This? (7140 reads)
"If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?" is one of a list of a dozen questions that have been appearing regularly in my email. I think it’s the choice of arthritis, out...

Feb 15: Mark Manson, Not Taking Things Personally (10297 reads)
An unfortunate side effect of our consciousness residing in our brains is that everything we experience in our lives involves us somehow. The car in traffic today cut you off. The cable news...

Feb 08: Susan Kahn, Emptiness Cafe (6541 reads)
Life moves Like shadow and light, Instantaneously appearing, Though I cannot find time itself. Cities mirrored in thought, Nothing standing alone. There is no seer without the seen, No...

Feb 01: Gopal Dada, The Hole-y Bucket (8044 reads)
A student approaches the teacher with the question, “Could you help me with a question I've been struggling with -- what is the purpose of my life?”  The wise teacher...

Jan 25: Henri Nouwen, Solitude Is Where Community Begins (7737 reads)
Solitude is where community begins. That’s where we listen to God. Sometimes I think of life as a big wagon wheel with many spokes.  In the middle is the hub.  Often in ministry, it...

Jan 18: Jon Madian, We Are Weavers (6745 reads)
we are weavers woven into and from  an ancient ever renewing fabric on an invisible loom more subtle than breath at one turn  we pull to add to our own design to sing each...

Jan 11: Bryan Stevenson, The Broken Among Us Teach Us (6700 reads)
What sustains me is this knowledge I have that it’s really the broken among us that can contribute a lot to our quest for full, equal justice. When you’re broken, you actually —...

Jan 05: Bear Guerra, Dark Skies Show Us Stars (6531 reads)
One of my earliest childhood memories finds me waking from a deep sleep in the middle of the night, during a family road trip. Far from any city lights, I look out the window toward the sky above,...