November 17, 2008
Tricycle's Daily Dharma
Becoming
Becoming, which results from clinging, involves the idea of having or being something more satisfying than at present. We want to become a very good meditator, or we want to become spiritual, or more learned. We have all sorts of ideas but are all bound up with wanting to become, because we are not satisfied with what we are. Often we do not even pay attention to what we are now, but just know that something is lacking. Instead of trying to realize what we are and investigating where the difficulty actually lies, we just dream of becoming something else. When we have become something or someone else, we can be just as dissatisfied as before.
-Ayya Khema, When the Iron Eagle Flies
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
How in the heck are you supposed to do this though???
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Obama Will Be One of The Greatest (and Most Loved) American Presidents
Frank Schaeffer
Posted October 8, 2008 | 02:45 PM (EST)
Great presidents are made great by horrible circumstances combined with character, temperament and intelligence. Like firemen, cops, doctors or soldiers, presidents need a crisis to shine.
Obama is one of the most intelligent presidential aspirants to ever step forward in American history. The likes of his intellectual capabilities have not been surpassed in public life since the Founding Fathers put pen to paper. His personal character is also solid gold. Take heart, America: we have the leader for our times.
I say this as a white, former life-long Republican. I say this as the proud father of a Marine. I say this as just another American watching his pension evaporate along with the stock market! I speak as someone who knows it's time to forget party loyalty, ideology and pride and put the country first. I say this as someone happy to be called a fool for going out on a limb and declaring that, 1) Obama will win, and 2) he is going to be amongst the greatest of American presidents.
Obama is our last best chance. He's worth laying it all on the line for.
This is a man who in the age of greed took the high road of community service. This is the good father and husband. This is the humble servant. This is the patient teacher. This is the scholar statesman. This is the man of deep Christian faith.
Good stories about Obama abound; from his personal relationship with his Secret Service agents (he invites them into his home to watch sports, and shoots hoops with them) to the story about how, more than twenty years ago, while standing in the check-in line at an airport, Obama paid a $100 baggage surcharge for a stranger who was broke and stuck. (Obama was virtually penniless himself in those days.) Years later after he became a senator, that stranger recognized Obama's picture and wrote to him to thank him. She received a kindly note back from the senator. (The story only surfaced because the person, who lives in Norway, told a local newspaper after Obama ran for the presidency. The paper published a photograph of this lady proudly displaying Senator Obama's letter.)
Where many leaders are two-faced; publicly kindly but privately feared and/or hated by people closest to them, Obama is consistent in the way he treats people, consistently kind and personally humble. He lives by the code that those who lead must serve. He believes that. He lives it. He lived it long before he was in the public eye.
Obama puts service ahead of ideology. He also knows that to win politically you need to be tough. He can be. He has been. This is a man who does what works, rather than scoring ideological points. In other words he is the quintessential non-ideological pragmatic American. He will (thank God!) disappoint ideologues and purists of the left and the right.
Obama has a reservoir of personal physical courage that is unmatched in presidential history. Why unmatched? Because as the first black contender for the presidency who will win, Obama, and all the rest of us, know that he is in great physical danger from the seemingly unlimited reserve of unhinged racial hatred, and just plain unhinged ignorant hatred, that swirls in the bowels of our wounded and sinful country. By stepping forward to lead, Obama has literally put his life on the line for all of us in a way no white candidate ever has had to do. (And we all know how dangerous the presidency has been even for white presidents.)
Nice stories or even unparalleled courage isn't the only point. The greater point about Obama is that the midst of our worldwide financial meltdown, an expanding (and losing) war in Afghanistan, trying to extricate our country from a wrong and stupidly mistaken ruinously expensive war in Iraq, our mounting and crushing national debt, awaiting the next (and inevitable) al Qaeda attack on our homeland, watching our schools decline to Third World levels of incompetence, facing a general loss of confidence in the government that has been exacerbated by the Republicans doing all they can to undermine our government's capabilities and programs... President Obama will take on the leadership of our country at a make or break time of historic proportions. He faces not one but dozens of crisis, each big enough to define any presidency in better times.
As luck, fate or divine grace would have it (depending on one's personal theology) Obama is blessedly, dare I say uniquely, well-suited to our dire circumstances. Obama is a person with hands-on community service experience, deep connections to top economic advisers from the renowned University of Chicago where he taught law, and a middle-class background that gives him an abiding knowledgeable empathy with the rest of us. As the son of a single mother, who has worked his way up with merit and brains, recipient of top-notch academic scholarships, the peer-selected editor of the Harvard Law Review and, in three giant political steps to state office, national office and now the presidency, Obama clearly has the wit and drive to lead.
Obama is the sober voice of reason at a time of unreason. He is the fellow keeping his head while all around him are panicking. He is the healing presence at a time of national division and strife. He is also new enough to the political process so that he doesn't suffer from the terminally jaded cynicism, the seen-it-all-before syndrome afflicting most politicians in Washington. In that regard we Americans lucked out. It's as if having despaired of our political process we picked a name from the phone book to lead us and that person turned out to be a very man we needed.
Obama brings a healing and uplifting spiritual quality to our politics at the very time when our worst enemy is fear. For eight years we've been ruled by a stunted fear-filled mediocrity of a little liar who has expanded his power on the basis of creating fear in others. Fearless Obama is the cure. He speaks a litany of hope rather than a litany of terror.
As we have watched Obama respond in a quiet reasoned manner to crisis after crisis, in both the way he has responded after being attacked and lied about in the 2008 campaign season, to his reasoned response to our multiplying national crises, what we see is the spirit of a trusted family doctor with a great bedside manner. Obama is perfectly suited to hold our hand and lead us through some very tough times. The word panic is not in the Obama dictionary.
America is fighting its "Armageddon" in one fearful heart at a time. A brilliant leader with the mild manner of an old-time matter-of-fact country doctor soothing a frightened child is just what we need. The fact that our "doctor" is a black man leading a hitherto white-ruled nation out of the mess of its own making is all the sweeter and raises the Obama story to that of moral allegory.
Obama brings a moral clarity to his leadership reserved for those who have had to work for everything they've gotten and had to do twice as well as the person standing next to them because of the color of their skin. His experience of succeeding in spite of his color, social background and prejudice could have been embittering or one that fostered a spiritual rebirth of forgiveness and enlightenment. Obama radiates the calm inner peace of the spirit of forgiveness.
Speaking as a believing Christian I see the hand of a merciful God in Obama's candidacy. The biblical metaphors abound. The stone the builder rejected is become the cornerstone... the last shall be first... he that would gain his life must first lose it... the meek shall inherit the earth...
For my secular friends I'll allow that we may have just been extraordinarily lucky! Either way America wins.
Only a brilliant man, with the spirit of a preacher and the humble heart of a kindly family doctor can lead us now. We are afraid, out of ideas, and worst of all out of hope. Obama is the cure. And we Americans have it in us to rise to the occasion. We will. We're about to enter one of the most frightening periods of American history. Our country has rarely faced more uncertainty. This is the time for greatness. We have a great leader. We must be a great people backing him, fighting for him, sacrificing for a cause greater than ourselves.
A hundred years from now Obama's portrait will be placed next to that of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. Long before that we'll be telling our children and grandchildren that we stepped out in faith and voted for a young black man who stood up and led our country back from the brink of an abyss. We'll tell them about the power of love, faith and hope. We'll tell them about the power of creativity combined with humility and intellectual brilliance. We'll tell them that President Obama gave us the gift of regaining our faith in our country. We'll tell them that we all stood up and pitched in and won the day. We'll tell them that President Obama restored our standing in the world. We'll tell them that by the time he left office our schools were on the mend, our economy booming, that we'd become a nation filled with green energy alternatives and were leading the world away from dependence on carbon-based destruction. We'll tell them that because of President Obama's example and leadership the integrity of the family was restored, divorce rates went down, more fathers took responsibility for their children, and abortion rates fell dramatically as women, families and children were cared for through compassionate social programs that worked. We'll tell them about how the gap closed between the middle class and the super rich, how we won health care for all, how crime rates fell, how bad wars were brought to an honorable conclusion. We'll tell them that when we were attacked again by al Qaeda, how reason prevailed and the response was smart, tough, measured and effective, and our civil rights were protected even in times of crisis...
We'll tell them that we were part of the inexplicably blessed miracle that happened to our country those many years ago in 2008 when a young black man was sent by God, fate or luck to save our country. We'll tell them that it's good to live in America where anything is possible. Yes we will.
Frank Schaeffer is the author of CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back. Now in paperback.
Posted October 8, 2008 | 02:45 PM (EST)
Great presidents are made great by horrible circumstances combined with character, temperament and intelligence. Like firemen, cops, doctors or soldiers, presidents need a crisis to shine.
Obama is one of the most intelligent presidential aspirants to ever step forward in American history. The likes of his intellectual capabilities have not been surpassed in public life since the Founding Fathers put pen to paper. His personal character is also solid gold. Take heart, America: we have the leader for our times.
I say this as a white, former life-long Republican. I say this as the proud father of a Marine. I say this as just another American watching his pension evaporate along with the stock market! I speak as someone who knows it's time to forget party loyalty, ideology and pride and put the country first. I say this as someone happy to be called a fool for going out on a limb and declaring that, 1) Obama will win, and 2) he is going to be amongst the greatest of American presidents.
Obama is our last best chance. He's worth laying it all on the line for.
This is a man who in the age of greed took the high road of community service. This is the good father and husband. This is the humble servant. This is the patient teacher. This is the scholar statesman. This is the man of deep Christian faith.
Good stories about Obama abound; from his personal relationship with his Secret Service agents (he invites them into his home to watch sports, and shoots hoops with them) to the story about how, more than twenty years ago, while standing in the check-in line at an airport, Obama paid a $100 baggage surcharge for a stranger who was broke and stuck. (Obama was virtually penniless himself in those days.) Years later after he became a senator, that stranger recognized Obama's picture and wrote to him to thank him. She received a kindly note back from the senator. (The story only surfaced because the person, who lives in Norway, told a local newspaper after Obama ran for the presidency. The paper published a photograph of this lady proudly displaying Senator Obama's letter.)
Where many leaders are two-faced; publicly kindly but privately feared and/or hated by people closest to them, Obama is consistent in the way he treats people, consistently kind and personally humble. He lives by the code that those who lead must serve. He believes that. He lives it. He lived it long before he was in the public eye.
Obama puts service ahead of ideology. He also knows that to win politically you need to be tough. He can be. He has been. This is a man who does what works, rather than scoring ideological points. In other words he is the quintessential non-ideological pragmatic American. He will (thank God!) disappoint ideologues and purists of the left and the right.
Obama has a reservoir of personal physical courage that is unmatched in presidential history. Why unmatched? Because as the first black contender for the presidency who will win, Obama, and all the rest of us, know that he is in great physical danger from the seemingly unlimited reserve of unhinged racial hatred, and just plain unhinged ignorant hatred, that swirls in the bowels of our wounded and sinful country. By stepping forward to lead, Obama has literally put his life on the line for all of us in a way no white candidate ever has had to do. (And we all know how dangerous the presidency has been even for white presidents.)
Nice stories or even unparalleled courage isn't the only point. The greater point about Obama is that the midst of our worldwide financial meltdown, an expanding (and losing) war in Afghanistan, trying to extricate our country from a wrong and stupidly mistaken ruinously expensive war in Iraq, our mounting and crushing national debt, awaiting the next (and inevitable) al Qaeda attack on our homeland, watching our schools decline to Third World levels of incompetence, facing a general loss of confidence in the government that has been exacerbated by the Republicans doing all they can to undermine our government's capabilities and programs... President Obama will take on the leadership of our country at a make or break time of historic proportions. He faces not one but dozens of crisis, each big enough to define any presidency in better times.
As luck, fate or divine grace would have it (depending on one's personal theology) Obama is blessedly, dare I say uniquely, well-suited to our dire circumstances. Obama is a person with hands-on community service experience, deep connections to top economic advisers from the renowned University of Chicago where he taught law, and a middle-class background that gives him an abiding knowledgeable empathy with the rest of us. As the son of a single mother, who has worked his way up with merit and brains, recipient of top-notch academic scholarships, the peer-selected editor of the Harvard Law Review and, in three giant political steps to state office, national office and now the presidency, Obama clearly has the wit and drive to lead.
Obama is the sober voice of reason at a time of unreason. He is the fellow keeping his head while all around him are panicking. He is the healing presence at a time of national division and strife. He is also new enough to the political process so that he doesn't suffer from the terminally jaded cynicism, the seen-it-all-before syndrome afflicting most politicians in Washington. In that regard we Americans lucked out. It's as if having despaired of our political process we picked a name from the phone book to lead us and that person turned out to be a very man we needed.
Obama brings a healing and uplifting spiritual quality to our politics at the very time when our worst enemy is fear. For eight years we've been ruled by a stunted fear-filled mediocrity of a little liar who has expanded his power on the basis of creating fear in others. Fearless Obama is the cure. He speaks a litany of hope rather than a litany of terror.
As we have watched Obama respond in a quiet reasoned manner to crisis after crisis, in both the way he has responded after being attacked and lied about in the 2008 campaign season, to his reasoned response to our multiplying national crises, what we see is the spirit of a trusted family doctor with a great bedside manner. Obama is perfectly suited to hold our hand and lead us through some very tough times. The word panic is not in the Obama dictionary.
America is fighting its "Armageddon" in one fearful heart at a time. A brilliant leader with the mild manner of an old-time matter-of-fact country doctor soothing a frightened child is just what we need. The fact that our "doctor" is a black man leading a hitherto white-ruled nation out of the mess of its own making is all the sweeter and raises the Obama story to that of moral allegory.
Obama brings a moral clarity to his leadership reserved for those who have had to work for everything they've gotten and had to do twice as well as the person standing next to them because of the color of their skin. His experience of succeeding in spite of his color, social background and prejudice could have been embittering or one that fostered a spiritual rebirth of forgiveness and enlightenment. Obama radiates the calm inner peace of the spirit of forgiveness.
Speaking as a believing Christian I see the hand of a merciful God in Obama's candidacy. The biblical metaphors abound. The stone the builder rejected is become the cornerstone... the last shall be first... he that would gain his life must first lose it... the meek shall inherit the earth...
For my secular friends I'll allow that we may have just been extraordinarily lucky! Either way America wins.
Only a brilliant man, with the spirit of a preacher and the humble heart of a kindly family doctor can lead us now. We are afraid, out of ideas, and worst of all out of hope. Obama is the cure. And we Americans have it in us to rise to the occasion. We will. We're about to enter one of the most frightening periods of American history. Our country has rarely faced more uncertainty. This is the time for greatness. We have a great leader. We must be a great people backing him, fighting for him, sacrificing for a cause greater than ourselves.
A hundred years from now Obama's portrait will be placed next to that of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. Long before that we'll be telling our children and grandchildren that we stepped out in faith and voted for a young black man who stood up and led our country back from the brink of an abyss. We'll tell them about the power of love, faith and hope. We'll tell them about the power of creativity combined with humility and intellectual brilliance. We'll tell them that President Obama gave us the gift of regaining our faith in our country. We'll tell them that we all stood up and pitched in and won the day. We'll tell them that President Obama restored our standing in the world. We'll tell them that by the time he left office our schools were on the mend, our economy booming, that we'd become a nation filled with green energy alternatives and were leading the world away from dependence on carbon-based destruction. We'll tell them that because of President Obama's example and leadership the integrity of the family was restored, divorce rates went down, more fathers took responsibility for their children, and abortion rates fell dramatically as women, families and children were cared for through compassionate social programs that worked. We'll tell them about how the gap closed between the middle class and the super rich, how we won health care for all, how crime rates fell, how bad wars were brought to an honorable conclusion. We'll tell them that when we were attacked again by al Qaeda, how reason prevailed and the response was smart, tough, measured and effective, and our civil rights were protected even in times of crisis...
We'll tell them that we were part of the inexplicably blessed miracle that happened to our country those many years ago in 2008 when a young black man was sent by God, fate or luck to save our country. We'll tell them that it's good to live in America where anything is possible. Yes we will.
Frank Schaeffer is the author of CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back. Now in paperback.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
We can't elect McCain
I can't stand the puffy hair with bangs, glasses and the damned lipstick. Is he trying to throw this thing? It's my new theory. He's 72, he's been doing this campaign thing for a while now, 22 years in government, POW...He's exhausted! But he can't exactly back out now. So he's making himself as least attractive as possible. Wouldn't that be the mark of a true maverick? Knocking out all the guys who actually did want 'more of the same' from the Republican primary so that he could get to the top of the heap, throw the election thus ensuring the Dems win, because he really does believe in change. If the polls start turning too much in his favor, the next thing he'll probably do is a Cribs appearance on MTV. Those Conservatives..... They can't help but like the guy.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
This explains it....
July 12, 2008
Tricycle's Daily Dharma
A Different Stream of Consciousness
The Buddha described his teaching as "going against the stream." The unflinching light of mindful awareness reveals the extent to which we are tossed along in the stream of past conditioning and habit. The moment we decide to stop and look at what is going on (like a swimmer suddenly changing course to swim upstream instead of downstream), we find ourselves battered by powerful currents we had never even suspected--precisely because until that moment we were largely living at their command.
-- Stephen Batchelor in The Awakening of the West
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
I've been receiving a lot of flack lately. The above Daily Dharma may explain why.... There is also something about this in _Eat Pray Love_ by Elizabeth Gilbert. She's living the way she wants, and everyone is critical. Because for the first time, she has made some space for herself and allowed her inner-voice to guide her.
Switching topics, I got a hug from Amma last night. I spent the whole evening thinking about how I should approach her. Needlessly. When I moved up to kneel in front of her, she just held me. She blessed me and Jon at the same time, and blessed the pictures of Elliot and Amory that I held in front of me. Then she pulled me back, looked in my eyes and smiled--Amazing. Like a warm grandmother smile-- and pulled me in again. There is NOTHING that compares to a hug given out of pure compassion. Everyone needs to experience this. I hope I can share this with the next person I hug.
Tricycle's Daily Dharma
A Different Stream of Consciousness
The Buddha described his teaching as "going against the stream." The unflinching light of mindful awareness reveals the extent to which we are tossed along in the stream of past conditioning and habit. The moment we decide to stop and look at what is going on (like a swimmer suddenly changing course to swim upstream instead of downstream), we find ourselves battered by powerful currents we had never even suspected--precisely because until that moment we were largely living at their command.
-- Stephen Batchelor in The Awakening of the West
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
I've been receiving a lot of flack lately. The above Daily Dharma may explain why.... There is also something about this in _Eat Pray Love_ by Elizabeth Gilbert. She's living the way she wants, and everyone is critical. Because for the first time, she has made some space for herself and allowed her inner-voice to guide her.
Switching topics, I got a hug from Amma last night. I spent the whole evening thinking about how I should approach her. Needlessly. When I moved up to kneel in front of her, she just held me. She blessed me and Jon at the same time, and blessed the pictures of Elliot and Amory that I held in front of me. Then she pulled me back, looked in my eyes and smiled--Amazing. Like a warm grandmother smile-- and pulled me in again. There is NOTHING that compares to a hug given out of pure compassion. Everyone needs to experience this. I hope I can share this with the next person I hug.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Mission Impossible 4
So, this Desperate Housewife has a funny story to tell. I was busy cooking dinner. As most people who would be reading this know, our kitchen is in the back of the house and the view from there is the woods. As I was looking out there today, I saw one of the neighborhood boys (he's 14 or so) hiking through the woods carrying a white plastic shopping bag, and in the bag was something shaped like a coffee can. Let me point out, he's a tall, chubby kid, and he was wearing a bright, sky blue polo shirt...he didn't even try to camouflage himself. So anyway, he's skulking around out there, finds a spot and starts digging with a stick. He was out there for about 15 minutes. While I was watching him, my husband, who had just gotten home from work and had come into the kitchen for a snack, looks out the other window and says, 'Hey look. There are three deer out there.' So I turn from watching the kid, to look from the other vantage point, and sure enough, there are a few or several deer out in the general vicinity of our neighbor, who hadn't started digging by that point, rather was still looking for just the right spot for his 'project'. At first, I thought, oh isn't that sweet of our young neighbor, he's probably studying the local fauna for a school project. Maybe he's brought them some food, or he's collecting scat, or he has his binoculars in that bag or a camera or something. He really is a nice kid and capable of that, or so I thought.
After he had been poking around the ground for a while, and then started what appeared to be raking, and the deer ran away, the whole scene changed. It became clear that he was not interested in the fauna, rather the flora. And not the flora that actually grows in the woods of the park, but rather the kind you find under lamps in the basements of very sneaky people. Apparently the young man felt that the ecosystem of the Park had been lacking this diverse plant. Perhaps he was planning to make himself some hemp clothing.
Is anyone wondering how I know what he planted? I couldn't stand it. My curiosity was eating me alive. Because not only was he in the woods (which you can still see through because the underbrush hasn't grown in yet)..no one just walks through those woods. For one thing, there are paths everywhere. The other thing that was curious was that he spent a lot of time poking and digging and moving earth around. And then he left, came back in to deposit the white shopping bag, left again and proceeded to walk in the direction of the parking lot, where a few of the neighborhood teenagers like to stroll. So I'd been watching him for a solid 15 minutes, the spaghetti was cooking, the sauce was bubbling. Picture Terry Hatcher trying to make dinner for all of the family while spying on her neighbors. All I could think about was following him out there, and seeing what he had been doing. Since my husband was there, he had offered to go out and look, but I told him not to--secretly because I wanted to be the one. So after we ate, I headed out into the woods.
I've never been in these woods, mainly for the ticks, but also for the underbrush and pricker bushes. But out I went. I just couldn't stand it anymore. I had to know. So I walked out, half expecting to get caught, in search of the spot where I thought the young man had been digging. My mind was racing. Was I going to find a deceased pet gerbil? Yuck! Was I going to find a bad report card? Was I going to find a wad of money? Some stolen credit cards? By the way, people throw all kinds of crap out there in the woods. I found black landscaper's tubing, what looked to be a large chicken wire trap of some sort, some soda cans....and two, very out of place, very green, very freshly-planted marijuana plants. The ground all around had been disturbed (I knew that from all the Mission Impossible, Indiana Jones, and Bourne movies I watch...Always look for the disturbed earth!!) So I didn't know what else to do but to uproot it, wrap it in the bag (I can't believe he left the bag in the woods! Litterer!!) and make a run for it. So here is this thirty-something, action movie-holic, stay at home mom, scampering through the forest like some kind of raccoon who just stole some eggs.
I live to tell the tale. Now, I have to figure out what to do. Do we rat the kid out? And to whom? I don't know his mom. Calling the cops doesn't seem right. Is he hurting anyone? Who knows. Probably just himself. What is my responsibility here? I think I would want to know if it were my kid, so I think we'll tell his mom somehow. But I don't want him throwing rocks through my window or anything, so I think we'll do it anonymously. So I'll probably go out late tonight and put a note on her car or something. Another mission!!
The funny thing is, that I was kidding my husband not too long ago (about 10% seriously), that we should think about planting some pot in the woods to raise money for our deck fiasco, but that the only trouble would be where to get a hold of a few seedlings. I think age, wisdom and the ability to peer into the future at the consequences of my actions accounted for the other 90%. Which goes to show that we do get smarter as we get older. Thank goodness for that. At least there's something! :)
The other question is, what do we do with the pot we now have in our house? We've gotten busted for an unpermitted deck (a purely honest mistake). We can't afford to get arrested for possession. Part of me wants to plant it, because it really is a pretty plant and it's just dying up there in our cabinet. I think we'll give it back though. At least to the kid's mom. Let her deal with it.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Scrapbooking for the Cure
My friend, Aimee and I scrapbooked all day yesterday. My in-laws took the kids out for the day, so I was able to go for the whole day...10 to 6. That's 8 hours of scrapbooking. It was a fundraiser for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, so that made it twice as great. All the money raised from the event goes to breast cancer research. The 10 minute massage I bought, the raffle tickets (I won a massage by the way) and the creative memories stuff I plan on purchasing....and I made these really cool pages.
I scoured the web to get ideas and kept coming back to this circle design I found here: http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/page_idea.aspx?id=18111 .
It took me the whole second half of the day because I'm such a slow worker. Aimee finished something like eight pages...she was smokin. But it was so great to get back to one of my favorite hobbies. I never get a chance (or at least I never prioritize), so it was a special treat to go, and for such an important cause.
I have to blog about my inner demon day that I had last week. But I'm still thinking about it. More on that soon.
I scoured the web to get ideas and kept coming back to this circle design I found here: http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/page_idea.aspx?id=18111 .
It took me the whole second half of the day because I'm such a slow worker. Aimee finished something like eight pages...she was smokin. But it was so great to get back to one of my favorite hobbies. I never get a chance (or at least I never prioritize), so it was a special treat to go, and for such an important cause.
I have to blog about my inner demon day that I had last week. But I'm still thinking about it. More on that soon.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Tricycle's Daily Dharma: February 8, 2008
Trying to Get It
We try so hard to hang on to the teachings and "get it," but actually the truth sinks in like rain into very hard earth. The rain is very gentle, and we soften up slowly at our own speed. But when that happens, something has fundamentally changed in us. That hard earth has softened. It doesn't seem to happen by trying to get it or capture it. It happens by letting go; it happens by relaxing your mind, and it happens by the aspiration and the longing to want to communicate with yourself and others. Each of us finds our own way.
- Pema Chodron, Start Where You Are
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
We try so hard to hang on to the teachings and "get it," but actually the truth sinks in like rain into very hard earth. The rain is very gentle, and we soften up slowly at our own speed. But when that happens, something has fundamentally changed in us. That hard earth has softened. It doesn't seem to happen by trying to get it or capture it. It happens by letting go; it happens by relaxing your mind, and it happens by the aspiration and the longing to want to communicate with yourself and others. Each of us finds our own way.
- Pema Chodron, Start Where You Are
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Check it out...
This was Elliot's birthday cake. The kids loved it. It was so much fun to make. When I asked Elliot what kind of cake he wanted, a train cake or a tractor cake (I made sure to keep his choices limited), he said he wanted not just a tractor cake, but a Farmall tractor cake. Not a John Deere cake, mind you. What we won't do for our children.
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