Have Portable Feeding Pump, Will Travel
Or: Wherever you go, there you – and your special needs child – are. Traveling these days can test the equanimity of even the most experienced meditator. Add in a special needs child with sensory issues, mobility limitations, a bunch of medical equipment, and the potential for seizures or other emergencies, and you have the […]
Wisdom & Patience
As of early May, I officially completed my first half-century of life. Here is my prediction for life after 50: Some things will get better and other things will get worse. My psychic powers are astonishing, I know. It’s easy to understand that things will change. The challenge lies in determining how I will respond […]
Body
This post is a natural extension of my last post on self identity. Of the many components that make up our self identity, our body is often the one we most strongly identify with. Much of the course of our life is informed by the physical characteristics of our body; its age, shape, size, color, […]
Finding the Lotus in the Mud
You are the witness of your own heart and mind. You are the infinite witnessing the finite. You are boundless love witnessing anger. You are pure bliss witnessing sorrow. Love what you are going through. […]
Hope & Doubt
hope |hōp| – a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen: I hope this new medication works; a person or thing that may help or save someone: This new medication is our only hope; grounds for believing that something good may happen: The medical evidence gives us some hope that this medication will help. doubt |dout| – a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction: Some doubts exist regarding the effectiveness of this medication; feel uncertain about: I doubt we’ll see an […]
You yourself, as much as anybody…
You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection. […]
“I see you, Mara”
Meeting life’s frustrations with grace and humility, and maybe a little humor. THE GUEST HOUSE This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who […]
What I Learned About Mindfulness From ABA Therapy
In my previous two posts, I talked about how my meditation practice has helped me cope with the struggles of parenting a disabled child. Sometimes, however, the opposite happens and Sarah becomes my teacher. Ask any parent of a special needs child what factors generate the most stress and frustration in their day-to-day lives and […]
Beautiful and Non-beautiful Elements
For many people, a significant part of self identity is based on the appearance of the body. I am pretty. I am fat. I am black. I’m a red-head. We tend to make judgements about ourselves and create an entire persona around a few physical characteristics. TV commercials and magazine ads would have us believe that we […]
The Five Remembrances
In the Sutta on Subjects for Contemplation (the Utajjhatthana Sutta), the Buddha encourages both monks and lay people to contemplate five universal truths, commonly called the Five Remembrances. I have Thich Nhat Hanh’s beautiful translation taped to my bathroom mirror to read every morning. I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way […]