I was in NYC recently, having a beer at the bar of an Upper West Side restaurant, when the woman sitting next to me and my wife engaged us in conversation. Her name was Helen Anderson and she had quite a story to tell. Helen grew up in the South and moved to New York City in her 20’s, becoming the first African-American flight attendant for Eastern Airlines. She later moved on to a career selling real estate, and was... Read more
You don’t see much graffiti in New York City anymore, at least not in midtown-Manhattan. When it does appear, it’s usually about self-glorification, a name spray-painted on a building or a bus shelter. Within a day or two it disappears, the affected area scrubbed clean. That’s why it was surprising to come across a long-form piece of graffiti, scrawled on an abandoned phone booth kiosk, in the vicinity of 37th Street and Fifth Avenue. It appears to have been written in... Read more
Late in his life the famed Russian author Leo Tolstoy began compiling a book titled A Calendar of Wisdom. Subtitled Wise Thoughts for Every Day, it contained a series of quotes and insights that might be looked at as rules to live by. They included pearls like, “When joy disappears, look for your mistake,” and “Instead of saving humanity, every person should save himself.” But as pointed out by Maria Popova in Brain Pickings, many of these insights had to... Read more
Is God a continual presence in your life? Or does the sense of the Divine within you, the feeling you have a deep connection to something greater than yourself, come and go? I believe for most spiritual people, it is the latter. Some days the heavenly spark in our hearts burns brightly, while at other times it seems to flicker and is barely perceptible. It is during these times that we need to fan the flame and there may be... Read more
How do you measure the passage of time in your life? For most of us, the primary way is through the annual observance of birthdays—but birthdays aren’t always the best measuring sticks. Age doesn’t measure our level of maturity or our growth as human beings. Some of us bloom late, while others find their lives are marked by unexpected detours. For those of us whose lives have been full of twists and turns, our true potential, the place where our... Read more
Have you ever heard of the impostor syndrome, also known as the fraud syndrome? I hadn’t until it was brought to my attention by the blogger and cartoonist Carl Richards. For starters, here’s a description from Wikipedia: Imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern in which a person doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud.” Despite external evidence of their competence, those experiencing this phenomenon remain convinced that they are frauds, and do... Read more
In the book Stress Less, Accomplish More, Emily Fletcher preaches the benefits of what she calls the 3 M’s—mindfulness, meditation and manifesting. Now you may have heard of these spiritual activities as stand-alone pursuits, but Fletcher believes the 3 M’s should be linked together. Think of her approach as a circuit work-out for your spiritual health. While the 3 M’s aren’t physical in nature, I should point out that Fletcher, a former Broadway dancer, also believes in engaging in a... Read more
What if there were words in the Bible that had hidden meanings–that when truly understood, had the power to help you find God and make the Divine a living presence in your life? An example can found in the book The Kingdom Within, The Inner Meaning of Jesus’s Sayings, where the author John Sanford brings to light the hidden meanings of the teachings of Jesus. He explains that many passages in the Bible have been misread over the years, taken literally when they were... Read more
Are you “spiritual-but-not-religious”? You’re in good company, as it’s now the fastest growing “religious” affiliation in the US. I recently came across a great definition of what being a member of this group means, via the Rev. Jody McDevitt of First Presbyterian Church in Bozeman, Montana: They may have had negative experiences with religious rules, rituals, or hypocrisy. They may sense sacred presence in nature and in human relationships. They may even pray regularly, outside the bounds of a religious community.... Read more
The world is crazy but you don’t need to be. These words appear prominently on the website of Pedram Shojai, a man otherwise known as The Urban Monk. A couple of years ago he published a book, appropriately titled The Urban Monk, that serves as a guidebook to remaining calm and focused, even when chaos is breaking out all around you. Shojai himself lives in the Los Angeles-area and is well-acquainted with the stresses and challenges of urban life. He... Read more
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