Those Difficult Times

"You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you." - Mary Tyler Moore Perhaps the experiences we have are bitter and sweet in turn, but we need to have those experiences to see how life is, how all life and all people are experiencing life. I am having one of those...

Living in the Question

"The knowledge of self initiates in the laboratory of doubt." When seeking answers about our own human nature the first answers that appear are almost always born out of conditioned introjected information. It pays to stay with the question for a while. When I do, I find the "answer" often evolves and the more truthful...

Proximity of Tao

What ever may or has happened, it's not happening right now. Of course the future and past are relevant, and we are set up genetically to scan, use imagination, explore possibilities, probabilities, and options. But, for me, the focus is on being in the proximity of where the body and breath reside, in these passing...

Being the Thing I Value

Words are valuable when they lead to action or shift in perspective. But if priorities are on the pre-experience collecting of concepts, labels, and preparing to be someone else in the future, I will miss opportunities to act in the present moments. I will be busy preparing for a future “me.” I can be the...

Until Absent

I will die, I don't know when, my question is "How do I engage with life while waiting for the unknown time to arise?"   Do I want to live as a kind person? Someone who cares? Giving. Compassionate, empathic, and sympathetic? Generous? If I decide this is how I'll live my life, then what...

Tao of Singing

"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang the best." - Henry Van Dyke Alan Watts made this point in his story about dancing, he said we don't dance to get somewhere or across the dance floor, we dance to dance. I am...

Time and the Tao of Balance

I am somewhat obsessed with time. The reason is years ago I read that "We don't come with an expiration date stamped on our butts." That did it. The insight fell in that I know how much time I have used but have no idea of how much is left. And, I embraced that as...

Did I get that?

I am never positively sure if what I mean is what you get or what you mean is what I understand. Lately I've been noticing how often I misunderstand others. I recently realized that the emotional content, and my attention to them, can shut down understanding and comprehension about what someone is attempting to tell...

Emptiness and Trusting the experience

I went through a series of days feeling empty and the emptiness lent itself to feelings of being detached. Not in negative way, but one that felt neutral, which I often describe as negative. But I'm starting to have a clearer view. Emptiness is not describing being empty, it's a description of what happens when...

Using Time

“Half of life is lost in charming others. The other half is lost in going through anxieties caused by others. Leave this play, you have played enough.” - Rumi I get this, or the intent of the message. But for me, the root of this particular problem is the conditioned reactions that we have been...