Happy February! I hope that you have endured the freezing temperatures and ice this past month, and have been staying warm with your yoga practice. After the death of our 12-year-old chocolate Lab about a month ago, our 11-year-old Standard Poodle started acting strangely. Our dogs had been together for nearly 11 years. In 2000, when we brought home Gus, an 8-week-old poodle, he met Coco, who was 18 months old at that time.
Read MoreOne of the joys of having older children is that we learn so much from them. This summer, one of my daughters read an inspiring book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide and recommended that I read it also. Reading that book started me on a journey toward a deeper understanding of some of the most painful and difficult issues we face today, including the sex trafficking of young women around the world...
Read MoreI hope that you had a very relaxing summer! I had the pure joy of visiting the Caribbean, seeing family, and going on retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh. In my last e-news, I wrote about whether or not it's best to always share our suffering, or if it's more productive to share only our joys. So it's funny because this month I have been meditating on perceptions. And perhaps underneath the question about what to share with others is how we interpret our experiences...
Read MoreThis past week I received an unexpected letter from an old friend of my mom's. My mom passed away, quite unexpectedly, about 5 years ago at the young age of 71. My mom, Sally, was a vibrant, energetic, and positive person, who did a whole lot for a lot of people, and was well-loved by many. My mom's friend described some of my mom's wonderful qualities - always making the best of every situation, her enormous capacity to care for others, the importance of her family...
Read MoreIn June, I had the rare and humbling opportunity to speak on a panel with three very distinguished Buddhists and peace activists: Colman McCarthy, Hugh Byrne, and Bill Aiken. The panel was part of the first annual BuddhaFest, and there were over 100 people in attendance. I agreed to speak on the panel because a friend of mine recommended me, I was in a good mood when they asked, and I wanted to encourage myself to move out of my comfort zone...
Read MoreThis morning when our contractor arrived at our house, it made me cry. And it wasn't simply the cost of renovation making me sad. It was my son's move from his old room to a new one that did it. You wouldn't think such a small thing would be so triggering. Standing in my son's room at 7 am this morning, I looked around at all of the stuff that he was letting go--the cowboy rug and cowboy boots, the Goosebumps books...
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I hope that you are enjoying the slow pace of summer and the longer days... I really love when it stays light until 9pm, so I have more time to be outside with friends and family.
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