Dear Friends,

I recently transcribed a talk by Brother Phap Linh, a Plum Village monastic in which he spoke about scientific materialism, faith, and determining our appropriate action/zone of action. Zones of action are the places we are most suited to where we can have the greatest impact and offer the most benefit. His talk inspired me to consider what my own appropriate zone of action might be for 2025.

Dear Friends,

The day before Halloween, while at Plum Village, we listened to a talk in which Thay shared that when we come into the present moment, we have the capacity to become someone who can perform miracles. It’s like we get a magic wand which can magically bring happiness to ourselves and others. Once we see the roots of suffering, ours and others’, we will know how to help and we will be motivated to help.

There are days I feel like I have easy access to the present moment (and hence my magic wand) and other days when I feel powerless and discouraged about the state of the world and whether I can do anything to help. 

When our minds are full of discouraging thoughts like,  “I’m just one person, the world is a mess. What can I do?” we get caught in feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, and comparing ourselves to others. That kind of thinking usually deposits me in front of the TV or scrolling on my phone to avoid feelings of shame and despair. 

Reigniting our magic wand can start with noticing our next in-breath. 

In early October, I was in planning mode for a one-month retreat at Plum Village to soak up the teachings and energies of the annual Rains Retreat (see last years post on this here), when I started feeling discouraged about the divisiveness in the U.S. and fearful about the upcoming presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Over the weeks leading up to my departure, my heart let me know that I needed to get involved in the election in a more serious way before I left. 

I had not gone door to door since working on my Dad’s county commissioner campaign in 1981. My parents were both political activists and their care for the community and belief in the democratic process gave me the courage to get involved. I knew that my home state of Michigan and in fact my home county, Macomb, was what they call a “battleground” area because it was a county that could decide the election for Michigan and Michigan was one of the states that could decide the election for the whole country. 

Dear friends,

In two weeks, I am heading to Plum Village in France for a month-long meditation retreat. I know I have a lot of privilege to be able to take a month to practice deeply with my community. For that, I am very grateful.

Recently, a friend of mine reached out to see if I could help her with a direct action for social justice, taking place during the time of my retreat. She made a very compelling argument about these unique times that we are in and how important it is to do what we can to end genocide and destruction.

Dear Friends,

This week I would like to share some tips for using mindfulness to help you if you’re having difficulty with your sleep. I’ve also shared some of this in a recent video. Many people have told me about their difficulties sleeping, and I have also had periods of time when sleep was more elusive as well.

I think of the challenges of sleep in four main categories: 

1. Can’t sleep because I’m ruminating on past situations, conversations or actions

2. Can’t sleep because I’m dreading something happening the next day or in the future

3. Can’t sleep because my system is revved up and I can’t settle down

4. Can’t sleep because of medications or hormonal changes or pain

For the first two situations, I use my mindfulness practice to notice what thoughts are plaguing me the most. If it’s something that happened in the past, I ask myself the question: Can I do anything about this right now? If there is something small I can do, maybe send an apology email or make a note about something I want to do the next day, I do that.

Dear friends,

Over the years, I have sometimes found myself believing that I need a particular person or thing to make myself feel whole. This feeling is best captured by the expression (coined by Renee Zellweger’s to Tom Cruise in the film Jerry McGuire): “You complete me.”  

As I’ve started learning about attachment theory, I see how this feeling stems from the anxiety of being cut off from the truth of my innate wholeness and connection to the cosmos. Understanding all the ways that human beings try to cope with our existential fears of separation helps me better understand and accept my own anxious thinking, which allows more space for transformation. (Some interesting videos on attachment and relationships here.)

During a meditation recently, I was following my inhale in my exhale. Many upsetting thoughts were swirling in my head, mostly worries and fears about the current political situation and warming temperatures, sadness about my beloved estranged child, fear about potential cancer recurrence, and other random scary thoughts. 

The basic practice of samatha (stopping) is learning to come back to the breath and the body, noticing when our minds get spinning and finding our way back over and over again to this moment. Thich Nhat Hanh’s poem Froglessness describes this practice beautifully:

Dear Friends,

A big part of my mindfulness practice is taking care of my strong emotions. This practice, which I learned from Thich Nhat Hanh, has been integral to healing a lot of my internal and external (usually interrelated) struggles. Thich Nhat Hanh’s basic teaching on strong emotions is that we embrace them with our mindfulness, the kind of mindfulness that is filled with friendliness, compassion, joy, and is welcoming of all. 

I have found that personal growth always begins with this process of welcoming bodily sensations, feelings and habitual thought patterns. When I’m able to practice with what arises, eventually there is much less grappling and much more ease and joy. 

Dear Friends,

This past Sunday several local meditation communities came together for a silent sign-free meditative Peace Walk. The temperature here in DC was near 100 degrees as we walked along the National Mall to the U.S. Capitol grounds. Several medics were with us and helped to keep us all safe and well.

We manifested this walk to express our desire for peace throughout the world and to call on world leaders to step up to peacemaking for the benefit of all. Our intention was to show that we can act with peace, for peace. To show ourselves and whoever else showed up that there are small acts that can be done with great love. 

Dear Friends,

I have been practicing with a situation that arose in 2022, when an old and dear friend of mine acted in a way that contributed to serious harm to my family. Since that moment, I have been trying my best to both respect the pain that I feel and not make her an enemy in my heart or mind. And this has been extremely challenging. 

One of my favorite songs/poems of Thich Nhat Hanh is called Alone Again, and the lyrics are (emphasis mine):

alone again I’ll go on
with bent head, but knowing
the immortality of love
and on the long rough road
both sun and moon will shine