Tag Archives: Thoughts
Reunion
I should have known better. When I casually announced I’d like to go up Lembert Dome in Yosemite, I imagined a relatively easy switch-backing trail to the top. It does exist, but that’s how we went down, not up. This … Continue reading
The Four Worldly Winds
Last week I tuned into Fresh Air on National Public Radio; Terry Gross is in her fourth decade interviewing people in this highly regarded show, and yet she was saying, “…if somebody gives me positive feedback, I feel like yeah, … Continue reading
Back Body
I still remember how startled I was when my beloved yoga teacher Angela asked us to bring our awareness to our “back body.” What? There’s something back there worth paying attention to? I’d never had back pain and seldom used … Continue reading
Worry Canyon
What, me worry? I guess I dealt with anxiety from an early age! Or at least, trying real hard to figure things out… So learning about the way the brain is organized like canyons (as I talked about last week) … Continue reading
Canyon
A metaphor for one way the brain works is a river basin. Water falling into creeks at the headwaters of the Colorado River will lead inevitably to the Colorado, not to the Mississippi. Multiple creeks and tributaries will feed into … Continue reading
This, That
We live in a very black and white world, it seems. Have you noticed? People will say, “I don’t know if I’m happy or sad.” Or “I love him but I’m so mad I hate him.” Or “you are right” … Continue reading
Bozos
“We’re all bozos on this bus,” said the Firesign Theater in the 1970’s. I first heard it sometime in the past ten years from someone who was learning to work with her judgments, both of herself and others. We both … Continue reading
Except…
It was a crisp autumn morning, and I was worried. My client, who had been doing well recently, came in very depressed and possibly suicidal. Fortunately, I thought to ask him this question: “have there been any exceptions to these … Continue reading
Rhododendron Insight
It was on a rhododendron trail in Bhutan in 1986 that I had my first meditative insight. I was practicing walking meditation—not that I knew it! We had been on the trail for about a week, away from all media … Continue reading