When a horse runs, it leaps and touches down by turns.   In just this way, our life is always moving between joy and sorrow.   Trying to avoid this is its own sorrow, like a mad bird trying to escape the sky.   Rather, our call is to help each other rise and help each other land. A Question to Walk With: In conversation with a friend or loved one, tell the story of how someone helped you rise... Read more

The story of Moses carries an archetype that we all must face and live with. Of all his brethren, Moses was closest to God. Indeed, he climbed Mount Sinai to receive the ten commandments and heard God directly. But due to an accident as a child in which his tongue was burned by a hot coal, he stammered greatly. All his life, he suffered an inability to easily speak what he knew to be true. Though he listened to God... Read more

As soon as we can walk, we are taught to run. In time, we think we have to catch something out of reach, when, if we let go, time carries us the way a river carries a boat with no oars. If we find our place on the bottom, the noise stops and time holds us in its soft cascade. So jump into the current of time. Sure, we will get wet. But that’s the point. Important papers will dry... Read more

On the darkest night of the year, Susan asks about Grandma Minnie yet again. And again, I soften and speak of being a child in your Brooklyn kitchen, sitting next to your stove as you made latkes, patting the excess oil and giving them to me while they were warm.   And Susan jumps up, as she does every year, as if for the first time, and starts grating potatoes. I put on klezmer music and we make latkes and... Read more

Yes, you fell down. I feel for you, for I have fallen many times.   Now, you must get up. I know it isn’t easy. I know it will take time.   Remember, the seed can’t imagine breaking ground. And the fledgling can’t imagine flying.   And so, your broken heart can’t imagine finding its way.   But life is this repeating journey from sleep to wakefulness, from blindness to sight, from fear to love.   No matter how many... Read more

After almost two years at home, I was overwhelmed just ordering the Uber to the airport. I needed to reclaim that in-between space while traveling as home. Once Christopher dropped me off, I was back in the stream. But as soon as I got to the counter, I was delayed and would miss my connection. My mind began to spin with logistics. Could I still get to Denver tonight? Would I have to go tomorrow? Should I just rebook now?... Read more

You ask for a story instead of a present and I’ve fallen into remembering the moment I knew I couldn’t live without you. We’d just finished lunch, early on. It was fall. We were saying goodbye on the corner of Madison and Robin. The wind lifted your hair as you smiled. I’ve always loved your smile. As you turned and crossed the street, I felt something tug and ache. I wanted to reach for you, to say with urgency— Don’t... Read more

Can you drink from the Lake of Being you came from before you were named? For peace lives there. I don’t mean for you to undo your life or to leave the world but to put down all that has proven false so you can taste from what is lasting which is always near. And here’s the mountain which when crossed is worth the journey— can you be such a lake to others? A Question to Walk With: Describe one... Read more

I don’t support the notion that some people are awake and others are not. Everyone is capable of great love, kindness, and insight. Everyone has eyelids. Some of us open our eyes and some of us, for various reasons, live with our eyes shut. Likewise, some of us live with an open mind and an open heart and some of us, for various reasons, live with our mind and heart shut. Just because you or I may live openly today... Read more