Strolling in summer down Bleecker near Broadway, we pass a young Hispanic couple sitting on the curb. They begin to argue. He blurts out, “How can you say that?” She looks hurt. They start squabbling in Spanish. We laugh at them and at ourselves. It’s the same argument since the beginning of time skipping between us. The details change. The language evolves. We long to be close, then bump into each other, and tumble through life the best we can.... Read more

There’s this one thing I can’t remember or can’t quite find. On gray days, I worry I’ve misplaced it or my memory is failing. But on days like today when everything is swelling with life, I’m certain it’s always been this way. To sense such a thing without finding it is what keeps us reaching for each other. I’m coming to believe it’s not about finding anything. More about the treasures we discover by opening what seems in the way.... Read more

For a fish, the Ocean is God and its need to swim is its want to know God.   For a bird, the Sky is God and its urge to fly is the flutter of its soul.   For a star, the Emptiness that holds it is God and the light it is born with is all it knows.   What Ocean, Sky, or Emptiness holds you?   A Question to Walk With: Describe all that is larger than you... Read more

I saw a woman sitting in a café in Barcelona. She had the loneliest stare. She fiddled with her espresso for the longest time. Then I took in everyone and realized we’re all still-lifes waiting to be finished by our next meeting.   It takes a quiet courage to slip from our regrets the way you might step from wet clothes after being caught in the rain.   What is it about these flowers trampled by a horse? Or the... Read more

Six monks meditate daily along the side of a river. One day, one of the monks notices a baby floating down the river. He immediately leaps in to save the baby. They are all alarmed that a baby should be floating down the river at all. The first monk stays by the bank, in case any more babies come floating by. The second monk goes upstream to see why this is happening and discovers that the local orphanage is in... Read more

Life expands and contracts in the yoke of a second. One minute there’s an unseeable vastness between life and death, and the next, it’s the length of a needle we’ve dropped and can’t seem to find. There is no one name or reason or label we can put on what we go through, though all of us, in our want to calm our fears, try to pin it down. Yet when doing all we can—holding, listening, bearing witness, and resisting... Read more

I start each day by opening the blinds and making coffee for my wife. This way, I enter the day by letting in light and doing something for someone I love. From there, come what may, I’m centered in the strength of light and care. Then I feed our dog and go to work, which for me is re-entering my conversation with life. Like an astronomer who spends his days looking into the galaxy, tracing the movement of stars and... Read more

When my twentieth book was published, we had a party in our backyard. It was such a milestone. My wife, Susan, surprised me that day by having the incomparable folk singer, May Erlewine, play with her quartet. I was dumbfounded to see her in our driveway. As May played, her voice threaded through our histories and I could feel the weave of stories that have brought us all together. After her first set, I offered a reading, one piece from... Read more

In the middle of the night, your hand was sticking up from under your pillow—so still and open—as when we finally stop reaching and are just beginning to receive. I gently twined my fingers in yours. You were so asleep, and yet you took my hand. That’s how deep we can go. We hold on, even when drifting in the sea of dream. I couldn’t see your face, only your hand. And with no distractions, with no dishes to wash... Read more

When hurt, it’s important to scream. Just don’t pray to the scream. When sad, it’s important to grieve. Just don’t build a kingdom of your loss. When falling through whatever you thought would last, admit, “I’m lost and confused.” Just don’t map the world as lost and confused. And when riding the wave, however it appears, feel the strength in you released. Just don’t believe the strength comes from you alone. But most of all, when listening to others, say,... Read more