To Bless the Space Between Us
I took my title from a favorite book of blessings by John O’Donohue. As I paused to remember 9-11 last week, I wondered about the spaces between us and how to honor them with our best energies. Space is an elusive idea. It’s not about “you,” “me,” or even “we.” It’s about an ephemeral meeting place where energy can exist and mystery can […]
We always have choice
Somedays, it’s easy for me to feel powerless as Covid ramps up again and Afghanistan collapses. I need reminders that I always have choices and with that, I can always find the power that lives within me. Even as I’ve been focused recently on finding ways to stay calm, I veered a bit […]
Does age matter?
I remember an experiment from a class in business school. The prof asked us to line up by age. Then he asked: “Does age matter?” The few twenty-four to twenty-six-year-olds in our class said, “No.” Those of us over twenty-six thought otherwise. We’d already been bruised and scraped by life, and we’d learned something. What age […]
To see the familiar with new eyes
To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower William Blake “Auguries of Innocence” For many of us, major travel was off-limits during the pandemic. Even though we now can travel, some of us are waiting before considering big trips. Because I couldn’t travel last year to impressive, new […]
MMMMMMMMM your way to calm
Given the stresses of daily life combined with growing uncertainty about our global future, I’ve been collecting remedies and techniques to use when I need to calm or reset my nervous system. Yoga is great, but not very practical if I’m stuck in yet another calamitous traffic backup. But here’s a technique we can all […]
The past is never past
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” William Faulkner Faulkner’s words were written to describe how the history of the Southern United States continues to haunt. I use his words in another way: When our past is still alive within us, it can be reshaped. In helping people work with their […]
Seven keys to deep learning from The Octopus Teacher
I finally watched My Octopus Teacher, the much-celebrated Netflix documentary that chronicles the year film-maker Craig Foster spent swimming with a wild, common octopus in the kelp forests near Capetown, South Africa. Foster credits the octopus as a profound teacher, and she was. Foster, however, was a disciplined learner who brought his full self to […]
Find rhythm in a pause
I’ve been loving my spring walks athrough our woodlands. They help me to pause when I’m wound up or feel driven to keep going on a project. Pauses are key to rhythm and rhythm is key to life. I’m not quite ready to write about my forays into rhythm, so instead I’ll share these […]
Playing as an ensemble
April is an exciting month for me as I get ready to watch the great performances that will be taking place over the next couple of months. The cast is in dress rehearsal. The previews are looking good. I’ve seen a couple of teasers from bit players out before the main shows. The first […]
Want more of Einstein’s brainpower?
Colossal intelligence that he was, Albert Einstein had a relatively small brain. It measured 1230 grams, on the smaller end of average. However, what he had that was unusual was an enormous corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibers that pass information between the left and right side of the brain’s cerebellum. The good […]