Sense of Security

A sense of security is a precious state of mind—labor-intensive to achieve and precarious to sustain.

So many of us work hard for most of our lives just for a glimmer of it.

Security comes in so many flavors—personal, financial, emotional, spiritual, intellectual.

Never take your sense of security for granted.

Be a security guard for all.

Well Groomed

The next time you visit the cosmetics counter, browse those rows of powders and creams, and are overwhelmed with a million shades of lipstick, blush, foundation, and eyeliner—consider the cat.

All it needs to stay well groomed is its own saliva.

The Entrance

The still surface of a lake is a membrane separating the worlds of air and water.

It is a hair-thin sliver, as fine as a breath, the thickness of a blink, a single molecule of difference . . .

Along this edge lies the entrance to Faerie.

Some Puzzles

Not every puzzle is intended to be solved.

Some are in place to test your limits.

Others are, in fact, not puzzles at all . . .

Smooth Polished Rock

A wise person is like a smoothly polished rock: it takes time to become either.

Coliseum of the Surreal

The poets huddle together in the corner like football players.

And the ball players are out before an audience, performing modern poetry in motion.

You sit watching, with your thumb ready to signal victory or defeat.

Reaching for Everything

When you reach for the stars, you are reaching for the farthest thing out there.

When you reach deep into yourself, it is the same thing, but in the opposite direction.

If you reach in both directions, you will have spanned the universe.

The Fern and the Cactus

The cactus thrives in the desert while the fern thrives in the wetland.

The fool will try to plant them in the same flowerbox.

The florist will sigh and add a wall divider and proper soil to both sides.

The grandparent will move the flowerbox halfway out of the sun.

The child will turn it around properly so that the fern is in the shade, and not the cactus.

The moral of the story?

Kids are smart.

Tornado and Earthquake

A tornado of thought is unleashed after each new insight.

This in turn results in an earthquake of assumptions.

These are natural disasters that re-shape the spirit.

Love Potion

Once upon a time, a young man obtained a magic love potion and gave it to the young woman he loved.

The next day she left him.

Don’t worry about either one of them.

The Hat of Inspiration

When you need a bit of inspiration, put on a hat.

And now imagine what it would be like to wear this hat every day. Imagine how the hat might change you, if you had to wear it always and could never take it off.

Now take off the hat.

Aren't you glad you can?

Tough Times

When tough times come, it is particularly important to offset them with much gentle softness.

Be a pillow.

Motion Sensors

We are all glorified motion sensors.

Some things only become visible to us when they undergo change.

We take for granted all the constant, fixed things, and eventually stop paying any attention to them. At the same time we observe and obsess over small, fast-moving, ephemeral things of little value.

The trick to rediscovering constants is to stop and focus on the greater panorama around us. While everything else flits abut, the important things remain in place.

Their stillness appears as reverse motion to our perspective, as relativity resets our motion sensors. It reboots us, allowing us once again to perceive.

And now that we do see, suddenly we realize that those still things are not so motionless after all. They are simply gliding with slow individualistic grace against the backdrop of the immense universe.

And it takes a more sensitive motion instrument to track this.

The Point of Light

The star is a tiny point of light in the deep that is the night heavens. Its distant neighbors are more distant than the farthest thing on earth we know.

The star is surrounded by an infinite number of other stars in a stream of light that is the galaxy.

The galaxy is a point of light and its closest neighbors are other galaxies in a cluster.

The galactic cluster is a point of light forming a sea of membranes and strings wound and coiled inward and outward.

The strings and membranes recede into a point of light that is but one in a shower of the sparks hitting the grate of your fireplace.

You blink.

Sugar and Salt

Neither sugar nor salt tastes particularly good by itself. Each is at its best when used to season other things.

Love is the same way.

Use it to “season” people.

The Master of the Garden

The master of the garden is the one who waters it, trims the branches, plants the seeds, and pulls the weeds.

If you merely stroll through the garden, you are but an acolyte.

In the Plains

In the plains the grass grows tall, since there is no one to cut it.

There is no one to water it either.

Darkness and Radiance

The autumn wind blows numbing cold and twilight paints the evening indigo.

The orange carved pumpkin sits on the windowsill, grinning like the moon’s strange cousin, and its teeth are flames.

Don’t be afraid.

You carry our own heat inside you, and it is stronger than anything.

In the closing darkness, radiate the sunflower-golden warmth and put the Jack-o’-Lantern to shame . . .

Fascination

Fascination can lead us into really strange places.

Some are marvelous, some are dangerous, some are fascinating in themselves.

Fascination is one of the many faces of inspiration. It is the first glimmer of the great shining golden hoard just around the corner . . .

Just be prepared to find fool’s gold most of the time.

Mobile Riches

It's easier for a rich man to ride that camel through the eye of a needle directly into the Kingdom of Heaven, than for some of us to give up our cell phone.

Indirect

Never look directly at the sun.

Instead, look at the sunflower.

Exception to the Rules

To every rule there is an exception—and an idiot ready to demonstrate it.

Don't be the one!

Vegetable Secret

No one hates vegetables.

Instead, everyone hates to eat boringly prepared, bland, sterile, flavorless, washed-out, unseasoned food.

The vegetables are crying out to you:

“Spice me up! Pour interesting sauce over me! Mate me with compatible flavors! Put me in worthy recipes! Treat me as a worthy main course, not an afterthought side dish! Oh, and enough with that dull horrid steaming already!”

Listen to the vegetables.

Then, prepare to be amazed.

Urban Unicorn

The unicorn flickers in and out of your field of vision. It is white, or possibly steel.

Watch from the corner of your eye as it soars past the cars and the landmarks, as the streets unfold and the buildings tower.

The unicorn cannot fly.

But it moves faster than you can imagine, creating the illusion.

No one else can see it but you. And even you may not see it again, unless you feel the same moment of perfect clarity that allowed you to remember everything—to hum the perfect song and pronounce the unicorn's true name.

And discover yours.

The Best Things

The best things—both material and intangible—in life are earned.

But occasionally certain unexpected good things come to us as a rare and precious gift, almost out of the blue.

How does that work?

To find out, give a small heartfelt gift to someone, today.

Playing

There’s a difference between playing and playing games.

The former is an act of joy, the latter—an act.

Regardless of Season

If you feed the birds and squirrels regardless of season, if you set out a dish for the possums and the raccoons when the weather intensifies, you are the secret master of the world.

Don’t tell anyone how it works. They may only figure it out for themselves.

Maps

Maps are things of magic.

You look at the world flattened into two dimensions on paper, and yet imagine it in infinite layers, directions, and transparencies.

What is a map of a human being?

The palm of your hand.

Good Book

Whenever your read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.

Far Seeing

Sunlight shimmers upon the waters like broken shards of a mirror.

Squint and look out across the ocean at the horizon.

You are seeing the future and the past, rolled into one.

Somewhere, thousands of years ago, another stood in your place, and looked and saw the same horizon.

The First Tree

The first tree grew in a forest of grass and lesser shrubs.

At first it was like all the rest. And then it kept growing, rising to tower over the other vegetation.

At some point it knew it was tall and different and strong.

The tree, new and self-aware, defined and named itself.

So must you.

The Pyramid

The pyramid shape is said to hold many secrets and amazing properties.

One of them is a sense of wonder.

The City

In a haze of fog and smog the city shapes itself in the distance, angular skyscrapers marking the skyline with dreary man-made geometry.

But with evening, golden lights appear in windows, winking into existence like fireflies, until the city is a jewel of infinite blinking eyes.

This is what takes place inside us at the moment of insight.

October Moon

Something wonderful happens to the moon in October. First it grows plump and yellow, transforming into a juicy peach, then into a bright orange pumpkin—great and fat and ripe like the last harvest.

The full moon floats in the cooling sky that has lost the last of its bright summer blue, and can only display the indigo and silver grays.

The season of depth has arrived.

Time to turn inward.

Home

One of the most difficult things in life is losing a home for which you’ve worked all your life.

There are no words.

The heart bleeds.

Then you pick up the objects that mean home to you. And you pack them up, and you uproot yourself and your loved ones.

And you go to plant your heart in a new spot of earth. Good thing the world is a big wondrous place.

And every inch of it is home.

The Invention

A very long time ago, when the world was plain, a brilliant scientist invented a wonderful mysterious device. When touched, it inspired you.

People from everywhere came to touch the device—and were inspired to create problems, solve all masterpieces, heal the hungry and feed the sick. Others were inspired to invent even more amazing inventions. Soon, the world filled with technological wonders.

Because so many people touched it, the device eventually wore down and stopped working. And when the oceans rose to swallow land and rearrange the continents, everything that was left of the inspired civilization sank to the bottom.

But the memory of inspiration remains to this day. It’s why so many of us unconsciously reach out to touch the things of the world, and why we reach out for each other.

There’s something to be invented.

Honeymoon

Every year, the sun goes on a honeymoon to warmer climes—or is it that it brings the warmth with it, transforming the places it visits?

We, meanwhile, are left to bask in the residue of its loving glow.

It is just barely enough.

But love always returns the following year.

Abilities

A great ancient poet was blind.

A great classical composer was deaf.

Many of us are dumb.

What have we to show for it?

Broken Vase

A fine glass vase goes from treasure to trash, the moment it is broken.

Fortunately, something else happens to you and me.

Pick up your pieces.

Then, help me gather mine.

Message in a Klein Bottle

An infinitely self-replicating yet unending pattern suggests something about the flow of our lives.

Truth is inside-out.

Freedom

Freedom is not a license to act but a license to exercise free choices in any given situation.

It is not a “free-for-all” but a “free-to-choose.”

Always use tact, subtlety, mercy, compassion—in other words, your best judgment—to interpret your final choice wisely.

Because everyone else is making the same difficult choices as you are.

Freedom is a thing shared.

The Weight of the World

The weight of the world is a trifle, if we all put our two fingers under it and try to lift together.

Hold the Moon in Your Hand

Who says you cannot hold the moon in your hand?

Tonight when the stars come out and the moon rises in the velvet sky, look outside your window, then raise your hand and position your fingers around the disk of light.

There you go . . .

That was easy!

From the Potbellied Jar

Find an ancient potbellied jar buried in the sand. Rub its sides to clear the dust, and uncork it, to release a genie.

When the genie offers you three wishes, tell him you will think on it. Meanwhile, ask the genie about his own life in those thousands of years gone by—stories of the ancient sunlit times, and the days of legend.

As the genie settles next to you, you listen. And the two of you sip tea and share secrets, while the years again pass by.

When your first gray hairs appear, tell the genie you no longer need three wishes granted, only one. And then, spend the remaining days of your lifetime deciding on that one wish.

In the end, you thank the genie. And with your last and only wish you set him free.

He did grant you, after all, exactly what was unasked.

The Dark Secret

The dark secret is buried in pride, but it's not what you think. Pride's nothing more than a tantrum.

Sure, pride elevates you and sets you apart.

But pride also keeps you alone.

Do you like being universally alone, forever? Enjoy the sense of isolation from the rest of the universe? Bored to death yet, as your quite possibly brilliant mind turns into a sterile echo-chamber?

Well, you can stop it at any moment. It's completely up to you. And herein lies the dark secret.

Simply break your pride.

Grovel.

Grovel with all your heart before the universe.

It's only excruciating for the first few moments as the shell breaks… Then, you are filled with warmth and glorious light.

And you are once again as big and full as the universe.

Seriously, it's worth it.

The Difference Between Love and Passion

Passion makes you vulnerable.

Love makes you vulnerable and hence, strong.

People and Dry Skin

When dry cracked skin itches, it should not be scratched but soothed with moisturizing lotion.

The same goes for itchy, irritated people. Soothe them with the lotion of acceptance.

Otherwise there will be a wound.

Fear and Frugality

Fear and Frugality go hand in hand.

Notwithstanding one's means, poor or rich, it's those of us who are most afraid that hold on the tightest to their savings.

It's a risk to give, and an act of courage to thin down or even part with that external layer of material safety padding, by sharing it with others.

This holiday season, remember to make a personal sacrifice. Because you will almost certainly need help one day and then you can hope with all your heart there is someone out there brave enough to help you.

Be that brave someone now, for a friend in need.

Spark of Insight

All the verbal pyrotechnics of poetry in the world do not measure up to one spark of insight.

Yet, insight framed by beauty flares from a spark to the brightest beacon of light.

A Different Kind of Faith

Despite what you may have been told, faith does not constitute a belief in a Deity.

Faith is believing in your own hunches, your instinct, your true gut. Because no abstract disconnected notion of Deity "out there" tells you more about truth and the way things are than that small voice inside of you that cries out to you, nags to you, whispers to you when you make any given choice -- good bad, or indifferent.

Trust and listen to it. It is never wrong. What is that voice anyway?

However, be careful that you don't get "radio interference" from all other things stuck inside your head -- hangups, biases, needs and desires. The voice of true faith is clean and impartial.

And it is always right.

Why Not?

For as long as there's anyone to ask 'Why?" the answer will always be, "Why not?"

Love Triangle

Love is made up of three unconditional properties in equal measure:

1. Acceptance
2. Understanding
3. Appreciation

Remove any one of the three and the triangle falls apart.

Which, by the way, is something highly inadvisable. Think about it — do you really want to live in a world of only two dimensions?

So, for the love of a triangle, please keep love whole.

The Child and the Adult

The child lives in this moment.

The adult lives in the contemplation of the past and future moments.

Key word: "lives"

Which of the two?

Two Voices

You know how we sort of have these two voices in our heads?

No, this is not about crazy people hearing things. And it's not about the devil or angel on our shoulder, the aftereffects of intoxication or sleep deprivation, or even split personality disorder -- no, this is all quite normal stuff.

One voice is what some people refer to as the voice of conscience or reason. And the second voice is the one that we mostly associate with the self, the so-called real you that is living in the here and now, and suffering or enjoying the moment.

So what happens is, we end up having these dialogues in out heads, pretty much unconsciously. But we hear the two voices become distinct only during particularly important decision points in our daily lives -- the moments when we have to choose one thing or another, one way or another.

The "higher" voice of reason is usually making running commentary when we are unsure about what to do, when we are torn, lost, confused, hurting. It keeps is from jumping off a cliff or eloping to Vegas with the cute bartender. In the process of this mental dialogue and weighing of options, we justify our behavior or decisions to ourselves.

One of our voices -- the immediate self -- is usually emotional, impulsive, the one most in need of help or guidance. The other voice -- which is also the self but a bit more detached, it seems -- is consolatory, helpful, or critical, judgmental, supervisory. One is weak, the other strong. They constantly talk to each other, a sort of director's cut commentary track of our lives. But instead of being mere commentary, they are in fact making that movie on the fly.

Both of these voices are us -- two equal sides of ourselves. Psychologists might assign various labels to this, our daily process of internal reasoning, while popular culture has other terms such as common sense, impulse, guts, dick.

How about a new pair of terms, using metaphor?

Let's think for a moment of the self as a team of two techs on a mission. One tech is actually sitting back at the dispatch tower, watching the terrain. The other tech is down in the field, armed and equipped, and running through the jungle. The tech up in the dispatch many miles away -- let's call him the Voice of the Absolute -- sees the big picture and the progress of the tech who is on site. The tech in the jungle -- let's call him the Voice of the Relative -- is fully immersed in the moment, in the dangers of the jungle, the snakes and the vines and the bugs and the humid heat, and also the pleasures -- the fresh balmy air, the song of the forest.

It's rather easy for the jungle to overtake all senses, which is what happens to us in life as we live it. We are overwhelmed and forget the reality of the big picture beyond us when we can only see the mud at our feet as we wade through the swamp and the mosquitoes.

However, the guy at the dispatch tower, an equal part of our team, can see all this too, except he also knows the reality of the sterile control tower and the equipment, the panoramic vista of land for many miles around, and he is also connected to a huge communication network. When he sees a snake hanging on a nearby branch he can warn us without panic. But he also does not feel the heat or the painful rocks beneath our feet as we run -- that's up to the guy on site to figure out and handle.

The Voice of the Absolute is our voice of greater perspective -- reason, common sense, conscience, reality, and grounding -- and he can give great mission support to the Voice of the Relative, the one who's in the thick of it all.

At any given moment of our lives we can chose to listen to that distant team member or not. If we do, we usually feel less lost and more in control. We also can avoid pratfalls and reduce the amount of stupid mistakes we can make if we're stuck only within the narrow immediate perspective.

For best results, we're a team.

Next time we hear that dialogue in our head, let's not discount it. Instead, let us take the moment to listen to both voices -- not only do things sound clearer in stereo, but it can be a great relief when we are feeling most alone.

And no, we're not crazy, merely human.

Passion, Compassion, and the Unthinkable

Passion is human.

Compassion is divine.

Apathy is unthinkable. Okay, well, maybe it's all right if your name is Bessie, and there's a whole pasture filled with yummy grass. . . .

The Rider Bill of Evil

Pure evil hardly ever shows itself; it would be far too easy to see it and eradicate it.

Instead, evil attaches itself to good and tags along, like a bad rider bill attached to an otherwise benevolent law. Messy entanglement is evil's primary method of action.

So the moral is: always read the fine print.

Storyteller's Secret

I'll tell you a secret.

Old storytellers never die.

They disappear into their own story.

Losing the Fire

They say that as we age, we lose the fire.

It is not so.

The fire is always there. Its nature is always the same, whether it flickers or burns raging and steady.

It is the source of fuel that becomes unreliable.

Thought Fishing

Thoughts are slippery fish in a cold shallow stream.

If you are intent on capturing a worthwhile one, you need to stand very still, focus very hard on somewhere outside yourself, and then simply ignore it until it gets so close that it tickles your ankles.

Then, pounce.

A Knock on the Duir

When was the last time you received . . .

A Knock on the Duir

Belief and Elements

Why is it that we either fully believe in things that are flawed -- such as sets of religious dogmas -- or we believe in nothing at all?

We speak of elements of truth.

Let us assume for a moment that truth is indeed a natural element from the periodic table -- it can be found in minute or large quantities in various substances.

If so, then let us look for -- and expect to find -- elements of truth in all things instead of expecting solid chunks of pure unadulterated truth in specific things.

The One You Love: Meditation Puzzle

Think of the one you love.

If, upon first consideration, you don’t have such a person, you are not thinking hard enough, or you are unsure of the definition of love.

Think of the one you love.

Change and Hope

Hope exists as long as change exists.

Equality

Equality is seeing oneself in the other person. Now, what you see is another matter.

It depends entirely on what you see in yourself.

Elusive Treasure

A sense of wonder is such an elusive treasure. With the passing of time its perception seems to require more and more props and a greater intricacy of effects.

I look on with a fond yearning to the past when all it required was a dance of shadows against a wall for me to see epic tales.

Death and Life

Life is vision.

Death is the blinking of an eye.

Relinquish Reciprocity

Here is a tough call:

Give up all hopes of acknowledgment of your good deeds, your affections, your aspirations, your opinions, and ultimately your love.

Give up all expectations.

And now, assuming that you are surrounded by such an extremely indifferent universal vacuum, proceed to live your live filled with the fierce joy of knowing that you can still do all these things, still burn with the fire of the self, and that the reactions of others -- or lack of such -- matter less than the light breath of wind upon a great flaming furnace.

Remain aflame, because you must.

And because the above scenario is false.

Epoch Epic

Every epoch needs an epic -- a grand story of heroic deeds and larger-than-life individuals of the time. Epics are the only reliable and immortal time markers for the chronology of the human world.

When you find yourself looking back so far and finding nothing, and then relying on the ancients for a great story of their time -- and yours -- it is time to create a new epic for this age, for the here and now.

If you understand the importance of this, then proceed. Else your age will remain a blank unmarked spot in the future chronology. . . .

As though it did not exist.

Inexcusable! Something must be done about it, by someone.

Maybe, you?

The View

Life's a room with a view.

It is always your choice to look or not look outside the window at the world of possibilities.

Just don’t complain of boredom when you don’t. And remember that sometimes glasses and telescopes are necessary.

The Power of Blank Slates

Have you ever wondered why meditative techniques such as Zen and other "blank slate" inducers work to focus the mind?

Very simple — when you focus on nothing, the only thing you have is what's already with you -- inside you, bothering you, burdening you, irritating and hurting you.

The blank slate tempts it forth, according to the laws of the physical world. It has been observed that matter tends to fill up and occupy empty space, and there is a perpetual resistance to vacuum.

So, the internal thought-matter comes out, slithers out, crawls out, to fill the vacuum of the blank slate imposed like a drainage catheter upon your busy mind, to fill the surface consciousness.

Use it to its full capacity.

Pieces of Imagination

Imagination is nothing more than the raw matter of all life experience mixed up into separate elements in your mind.

Some people have trouble mixing up the pieces in meaningful new ways. Those are said to lack imagination. Why? Complacence or cowardice? More likely it is ordinary distraction -- a preoccupation with the concrete pre-assembled world already before them.

Others rejoice in the opportunity to create purple elephants with golden hair and flying cities, the ability to time travel and talking porcupines with doctoral degrees.

Imagination is the mind's joyful sandbox, a spread-out game board.

Go, play!

Movement of Light

A sparkle of tiny iridescent elements upon crisp fallen snow, illuminated by streetlamps. The pristine spherical glitter of raindrops. The fierce undulation of liquid fire upon a sunlit ocean. The curves of shadow and brightness upon human skin. A homogeneous white glow of gathering mist. The sharp-to-soft fadeout and sudden contrast of pallor and depth in the petals of a rose.

All beauty comes down to a simple movement of light.

Lost

A thought lost is worse than a heart lost.

A home lost is worse than innocence lost.

A soul lost is impossible -- it has merely been misplaced or buried deep beneath the debris of experience, chaos, pain, and time.

When the rushing flood waters grow calm and still once more, you must wait and watch for it to re-emerge, floating gently to the mirror surface. . .

Living and immortal.

Don't be surprised -- your own soul called it forth, calling like to like.

It's the secret reason why souls never die.

The Secret of Intuition

What is intuition?

It is not a thing of esoteric forces; no magic is involved; nothing supernatural; no elusive mystery of extra senses. Neither is it a bag of parlor trick illusions or smoke and mirrors.

Intuition is nothing more than the ability to see smaller things and draw finer connections from the raw matter of the world around you.

Indeed, intuition is micro-logic -- the kind of logic that is so fine-tuned in its pathways of semantic connections that it seems to escape the rest of your own much cruder macro-senses, and is thus mislabeled as irrelevant. Its basis is so refined that it appears invisible.

Logical subtlety is at the root of intuition -- subtlety armed with finely honed senses that you already possess.

It is an acquired skill. As such, it is a force to be reckoned with.

For intuition is a razor-sharp surgical tool for gauging truth.

Inspiration Around You

Inspiration is always nearby, everywhere around you.

It is you who must become a conductive rod, receptive to its lightning.

Evolving Love

With years, my need for love has changed.

I no longer yearn for the lover but for the saint. I am not drawn to beauty, but to kindness. I desire not sensuality but warmth.

My passion has become a passion for wisdom.

It Matters

It may seem as though whatever you do in your life does not matter on the great universal scale.

But in truth, you and I, we don’t live on a universal scale -- gods do.

And because we live and create on a small relative human scale, surrounded by things that are tiny and yet profound to us, they, the tiny things, do matter -- to us.

As they should.

All we are expected to do is try to achieve the greatest thing to which we can aspire on our own relatively tiny scale. We may exist in a fishbowl, but if we can imbue our small fishbowl with glory and wonder until it is full to the brim, then we have not lived in vain, since it takes an infinite number of the fishbowls to build up the universe.

It is good indeed that all things are relative, because this way we can strive at the level of our own kind, not more not less. It is only when we consider beyond our fishbowl that we may be thrown off kilter and begin to doubt ourselves and our purpose.

When such a thing happens, we must stop, take a deep breath, and again find our own true place, and ignore the grandness, the infinity of the universal scale all around us that may seem a mockery of our tiny selves. It is not -- it only seems that way to us because we are looking in a manner in which we should not be.

And as we take the grounding breath and resume our pursuits, we return to live to the utmost on our own scale.

An ant is not expected to move a mountain; an ant has no concept of a mountain, and no need to consider a mountain as a whole. And yet, an ant, which does not intend to move a mountain -- by moving tiny individual grains -- does.

Connected

If you believe that everything in the universe is connected, that there is a unifying grand design, and that the world is a tapestry of intertwined elements of one organic whole, then you must concede that your right to life, death, and the pursuit of happiness is not always strictly your own.

Have mercy on the ones you love and the ones who love you.

Be flexible.

Do not lose track of your self . . . and yet, know when to concede self to others.

The Heaviest Weight

The heaviest weight settles upon you when it is time to start something important. It's as if gravity has doubled suddenly, and you find yourself unable to move from the spot. You are transfixed by a combination of laziness, fear, procrastination, and just plain entropy.

This is none other than the weight of doubt -- the subtle evil thing that's making you question the worthiness, value, implications, and meaning of the act before you.

You know on some rational level this sensation of weight is only an illusion. And yet you tarry. . . .

It is for this reason that there is only one solution.

Before there's time to take another breath, quickly. . . just do it.

Personal Justice

You cannot be fair to others without first being fair to yourself.

Know that a well-honed sense of justice is a measure of personal experience, and all experience is a measure of self.

Know that the highest expression of justice is mercy.

Thus, as the supreme judge in your own court, you must have compassion for yourself.

Otherwise, cede your gavel.

Cycle of Joy and Pain

When there is only joy, you overload, and the emotion becomes meaningless.

When there is only pain, you become numb and once again, emotion recedes into meaninglessness.

When joy and pain randomly succeed each other in an unpredictable random progression, the result is true personal involvement — real life.

Irritation, Yours or Theirs

Irritation means one of two things -- you are unable to get though to the other person, or you are no longer willing to try.

Maybe you are tired of beating your head against the wall, or find your fount of emotional strength exhausted, or your words fail you. It is also possible that you already tried your eloquent best and the other person simply cannot or will not listen.

Recognize which it is, and then either renew your effort to communicate with better clarity or do what you can to get away from the source of irritation.

Don’t waste another minute.

Because perpetuating anyone's state of irritation -- including your own -- is as bad as letting a faucet perpetually run water.

Faith

Faith is so overrated.

It is also only a small part of the equation.

What good does it do if you and I believe in something when we don’t take advantage of the knowledge and understanding that this faith gives us in order to act for the greater good?

An example of misused faith, taken from the Judeo-Christian traditions -- Satan has great faith and believes in God.

Maybe it is better to love than to believe.

Act of Love

One who truly loves, takes responsibility for others, regardless of ability, cause, guilt, fault, or preference.

If you are not anyone's brother-keeper, then find someone closest to you who is in need and become one. You will not need to look far, since we all can use a helping heart -- for a hand alone will not do -- whether we admit it or not. So, go ahead, choose any one of us and then lighten our burden with subtlety.

See through us.

As the Rain

Rain beats against the world outside in torrential streams of sky water.

It washes away everything.

May our forgiveness do the same.

New Beginnings

The New Year is a reusable blank slate. No reservations or regrets. Every moment you can begin anew with passion.

Use the bouquet of moments well.

Creating the Next Step

When making resolutions, we feel optimistic and energized. It seems as if we've focused our immediate future into a single powerful beam of clarity, and shaped it, given it real tangible form.

Indeed, it is exactly what happens.

In the creation of each new concrete goal we create the rest of our life.

The Pucker-Up Test

Take this test:

Shape your lips into a kiss-pout. Go ahead, do it right now, regardless of whether you are alone or in a public place. Hold the pose for 5 seconds.

How did that make you feel?

Playful? Daring? Silly? Sexy? Empowered? Cool? Hot? Brazen? Wanting to whistle?

Whatever your reaction, take your pick.

And now, analyze what you chose. Because the result reflects your personal vulnerability.

Harsh Teacher

Why is it that things become painfully important only when we find them gone?

While the sun shines, we pay no attention. While we see color, hear music, feel the softness of cotton, taste the tang of a ripe apple, we ignore them and take them for granted.

While those we love are with us, alive, we don't consider the profundity of it.

Don't allow loss to be your harsh teacher.

Open your eyes and look around you now, and see.

The Stories

The story of your life and mine is told through words, but it is experienced through the senses.

So, how is it that words "dissolve" in the transformational barrier of our imagination and come out on the other end as smells, tastes, images, sounds and touches? What kind of mind magic is it that transports us from the perception of dead symbols to a participation in a vibrant living reality?

Well, it is not magic, but your own ability to connect to the rest of the world.

Without the willingness on our part to reach out and connect to others, stories would not exist. We would have no desire to participate in experiencing them, and hence in creating them.

We would not know them.

And you would not be reading this sentence.

Indeed, you would not be reading at all.

Terrifying, isn't it? Well, good thing you can imagine the scenario, because in the act of doing so you are negating it.

So relax, and read on.

The stories are all safe and waiting for you.

First Nourishment of the Day

For many of us it is a quickly snatched hot cup of coffee or tea, and maybe a portable energy bar or a breakfast sandwich wrapped in foil and received from a fast food window.

As we consume it -- liquid or solid, hot or lukewarm or cold -- we pay it only a smidgeon of our attention. Maybe the heat briefly scalds the mouth as we rush to swallow, or the familiar flavor strikes the taste buds with "eggness," or "cerealness" or any number of other well-known things we consume all our lives.

The rest of our attention is on the world around us -- whether it is the road as we hold the wheel, or the work on the computer screen in our office. And thus we rush to swallow, to chew, to blandly fill ourselves.

The first nourishment of the day, the energy that will power and drive us, is taken in without awareness, or appreciation.

It is a pity. Because if we took the proper time to focus upon it, it would do us more tangible good.

Warmth of the Moment

The cold stands outside and beyond, but you are wrapped in a cocoon of warmth.

It is your home. No matter if it is only a home of the moment.

Cherish it.

Marriage of Elegance and Grace

What is the difference between "elegance" and "grace?" Both notions are rich with fine nuances of meaning.

Elegance suggests smooth secular style, while grace hints at spiritual, even religious finesse.

During the holidays, may your spirit be elegant and your state of grace be achieved in high style.

Security

The feeling of security is one of the most underrated and unexplored emotional states out there. It is the vanquisher of stress, the bringer of inner peace, the enhancer of joy, the means to appreciating the transient wonder of the moment.

Security, when it comes, is like a soft warm glow, rising to envelop you from all directions, until you are bathed in the unconditional light of simply being.

And in case you disdain security and all that it entails, consider this -- those who strive for security are not merely wise, prudent, selfish, timid, or seeking the simplicity of childhood and the safety of the familiar.

They are the ones who truly understand how to provide it to others.

Secret Weapon

Worry is the secret weapon perpetrated upon us by the dark forces of the world that lurk in the shape of fear, uncertainty, confusion, and loss.

We, on the other hand, have our own secret weapon against these incorporeal fiends.

It is laughter.

Thanksgiving: Meditation Puzzle

You who are taken for granted.

You are acknowledged.

Thank you.

Bottled Holiday Warmth

Many of us get depressed during the holidays. We tend to look around at the seething overflow of cheer everywhere -- in the media, on the streets, under every social circumstance. If we are not personally caught up in the whirlwind joy, we feel inadequate, and the blue feeling intensifies and spirals.

Eventually we are like spots of gloom compared to the rest of the bubbling Happyland, when in fact we are merely the same -- exactly how we had been moments before someone decided to call in the holidays.

All of this might take place not because we are all Humbug Scrooges, but because any forced mood change somehow feels artificial, unreal, and most of us are able to tell.

Indeed, festive mood is like a bottled giddy perfume, and it gets liberally sprayed on the world around the early fall, so that all the focus tends to slip toward green fur tree boughs, red gift wrap, golden blurry lights, and various camera angles upon a laden feast table centerpiece. The festive fragrance also calls up people dressed in bright sweaters, smiling excessively and hugging each other, raising sparkling glasses to toast something intangible.

Sometimes this perfume works on us, and we are caught up in the glow (in which case, ignore the rest of this entry, go, shoo!).

Other times, we are not quite in synch with it. So we wave off the overbearing scent in annoyance, not to mention a minor allergic reaction. This is when the dissonance starts to grate, to exacerbate our irritation and our already different personal state. Or else, it increases the nostalgic longing for the illusory joy that seems out of reach.

Think -- how unfair it is to ask anyone to rejoice when they are breaking inside, for so many reasons.

And yet . . .

And yet, the Spirit of the Holidays has a strange healing power if we allow it to affect us. For it is the collective spirit of joy of humanity with all its rich time-brewed traditions and rituals and primeval wonder -- how can it not move us?

However, as with any proper application of scent, too much all at once is a mistake. Mood perfume must be so subtle that it enters you and me without notice, gradually, and starts to seduce with its inevitability.

One breath at a time.

Transforming us.

Then the warmth becomes real, the candles shine with a sacred light, the green boughs beckon, and the smiles touch the heart. Even if just for a moment, it is all genuine, all applicable to us, members of the human species.

It is only then that, drenched in the perfumed sweetness of verisimilitude, we can truly celebrate.

Following Dreams

There's a familiar saying we've all heard before -- follow your dreams.

It is absolute nonsense.

If you follow a dream, you will be following it always, like the receding horizon, like a will-o-wisp. Under no circumstances should you follow your dreams, for dreams are only shadows.

Instead, consider what it is that you dream about, and come up with a practical, goal-driven plan of action that will get you -- or anyone -- there.

Then, follow your own step-by-step achievement instructions, as you would a recipe.

Even a child can do it.

Tears

Don’t ever be ashamed to cry.

The outpouring of pent-up emotion is as necessary and inevitable as rainfall.

And it allows you to take the next breath and plant the next step.

The Great Flood

There is an empty spot inside all of us. Sometimes there is more than one.

The spot is like a tiny black hole. The nature of its vacuum is blacker than black, colder than cold, more hungry than a starving nation.

The spot-holes must all be filled, or you feel an empty heartache, ennui, a sense of waste, a lack of will to do anything with yourself, a loss of meaning, a general weakness of will.

If you do nothing about it, more "holes" develop, and with time you lose personal cohesiveness. Slowly, you diminish.

What to do?

Well, it's a bit of a trick to fill those empty spots.

It requires the Great Flood.

The Great Flood is an outpouring of life energy to generate a rising tide of selfhood.

What in the world does that mean?

Simple -- it is a redirection of energy.

Energy rises from your center to the outside, like a fountain, and fills in all empty spots of vacuum as it fills all of you.

Every hole is plugged. Every need is met. All hunger appeased. The fabric that is "you" is repaired and strengthened.

The life energy rushes outward like a supernova, brimming past the borders of your "self."

How to get that energy? Where does it come from?

One might say, "it comes out of nothing." It "comes" in answer to an effort you make to look for it.

Indeed, the moment you begin to wonder, to think of it, it is there, just welling at the edges of your being -- the life force.

So, go ahead . . . Invoke it and use it to make the Great Flood.

Then, Fill Yourself.