As we celebrate this season of holiday blessings, gratitude, and cheer, I want to share a story with you. For several months now I have been thinking about the distressing circumstances in which we find ourselves in the world today. I have been contemplating our situation and, ever hopeful, looking for understanding and reasons for encouragement. Notwithstanding the constant barrage of media and the fear mongers, I am encouraged! As I was leaving the gym last week, my attention was drawn to a woman standing with her back to me, in conversation with another. I did not know her, indeed … [Read more...]
Supporting Nepal Through Inner Engagement
I opened my email this morning to find thoughtful and heartfelt suggestions from William Bloom for how to provide love and kindness and support to those who have suffered in Nepal as a result of the earthquake. His words bear sharing, and I have reproduced his letter below. For those of you who do not know him, William Bloom is a gifted teacher and writer from Great Britain, who has for many years provided important contributions to the development of holistic and spiritual understanding and practices. He writes today about how to provide assistance to souls killed in the Nepal … [Read more...]
The Power of One
As we mark the death of Nelson Mandela, much has been said about his remarkable achievement, his life story, his politics, his tactics, his tenacity and courage. He is fittingly celebrated for his unwavering commitment to and the success of his mission to right the iniquitous wrong of apartheid. But we must not overlook another of his gifts to us: he reminds us of the potential and opportunity we each hold to make positive change, and the ability of human will to triumph over adversity. He exemplified the power of individual thought and intention, directed into action, and the inevitability … [Read more...]
Politics, Truth and Compassion
Are you as worn out from this election season as I am? I am beyond weary from fending off the incoming—all kinds of energetic approaches vying for my mental, psychic and emotional attention, ranging from snail mail, email, print and TV ads, the endless coverage by the media of each side’s daily talking points and the innumerable partisan surrogates appearing on behalf of each agenda, and, most difficult of all to bear, the relentless sniping and small hearted negative attacks that appear to be acceptable terms of engagement in politics. We are all being subjected to energetic fields replete … [Read more...]
Building a World Wide Wave
There is great movement taking place—and I am sure many of you have felt it, perhaps without understanding even that you have felt it or exactly what you are feeling. The last several months have been especially challenging for many. This is a time of transition, and transition is most always uncomfortable. But transition heralds change, and positive change is what we look towards now. Many of my colleagues also involved in spiritual practice, teaching, writing, and mentoring report perceptions very similar to my own at this time: many of us now experience an increased inner awareness of … [Read more...]
A Call to Inner Action
These are interesting times. Our home, Earth, seems to be taking a strong, outward stand, erupting and quaking and behaving in volatile ways, all-in-all making quite a concerted effort to get our attention. Natural disasters, and, tragically, man-made ones, seem to be clustering together over the last many months, as if upping the ante each time. Many of us have a feeling that something in this is trying to get our attention, but don’t know what it is or what this means or what to do about it. We need to expand our response. We must craft a fuller response. But that response is not … [Read more...]