Munky MindThis is just a reminder. You are Earth. Everything you are comes from Earth. You are also what came before Earth, of course, but that thought is too big for most of us to fully “understand” fully, even if we think we understand. But the idea that everything that created your body came from the…
“Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You…
When I am more dedicated to a regular practice of writing, I’m often more paralyzed by doubt than a lack of ideas. This recently changed after the recent Jukai Sesshin that I wrote about in the last post. I’m not immune to writer’s block, though, if it really is such a thing. Today I sat…
Earlier this week I returned from a Jukai Sesshin at Jikoji Zen Center, feeling overwhelmed in a good way with the experience. I want to share a little bit about the experience without this being a post that attempts to teach about what Jukai is in its entirety, because I’m not a teacher and I…
When chopping the carrots, I chopped the carrots. Measuring the rice, I measured the rice. And in between this task and that task while taking on the role of Tenzo at a Zen meditation retreat in Minnesota last week, I scoured that Airbnb’s kitchen looking for measuring spoons. There were none to be found. I…
If the flowers were the thieves, then there would be no problem. Thinking this morning about where my attention goes. I’m grateful to be drawn in by the beauty in nature, but I have definitely been ensnared by the thieves that make up social media. I notice how my attention span has weakened in the…
To see a World in a Grain of SandAnd a Heaven in a Wild Flower Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour -William Blake I thought about those lines of that famous poem, never having read the rest of it. How intense the complete poem is surprised me, though I guess…
I was thinking about suffering today in terms of choices we might make. So much suffering arises out of a desire, a craving, either for a thing or a situation we want. Or a desire to not have the thing, to not have the situation. There’s a million articles on the internet and at least…
Many years ago, I was reading a book by Thich Nhat Hanh in which he described using your time at red lights to meditate. This morning on my way to work, I hit the usual red lights and reflected on how I’ve got so many ways to get to where I’m going, that I’ll usually…
