The Healing Power of the Outdoors

Everything in this world is made for our growth and evolution. Spring is the perfect season to witness Life all around us and to feel it bursting within us. All you have to do is step outside!

We Never See the Whole Person, But We Can Try

At a dear friend's funeral, listening to the remembrances made me realize how very many people she had impacted through her relatively quiet life. What if - on days when we're feeling small and a little insignificant - we could remember this? That we matter? That the world is a better place because we're in it? That would be a wonderful way to honor my friend's life.

Does Any of This Really Matter?

Sometimes, in the face of it all, it can seem kind of ridiculous to think that stepping on my yoga mat or sitting down to journal or pray is even worth it. But it is. It really is. Every time we nurture the good and hopeful in our own heart, we add to the good and hopeful in the world. And that is a very good and very meaningful and very important thing indeed.

You are Dust and to Dust You Shall Return

The Christian season of Lent began this week. Rather than taking on a discipline or giving something up, this year I am feeling called to spend these 40-days pondering mortality - others' and my own. While that may strike you as bleak, I believe that living with an awareness of death (another way of saying this is an awareness of the fleetingness and fragility of life) can make living a sweeter and more tender experience.

Could Loving Others be Prayer?

Caregiving is hard work. But what if, when we show up for people in moments of need and vulnerability, we are showing up right where God is? What if taking care of one another is also a way to pray?

A Season of Benign Neglect

This summer I've been distracted from both my garden and my yoga practice by the need to be present to my day to day life. It turns out that both are hardy enough to bear fruit even as I pour my attention elsewhere.

Seeing Beneath the Surface

You can study the heck out something, but until you have put it into action in your life, explored its nooks and crannies for yourself, your understanding of it -no matter how in depth it is - will remain at the surface level. Intimacy comes from experiences beneath the surface.

Being Kind Can Be Tricky

I would have said that I'd gotten pretty good at catching myself when I'm beating myself up. Surprise! As we get better and better at practicing kindness or non-violence, the ways that we're mean to ourselves can get trickier and trickier to notice.

When It’s All Too Much

Have you ever had one of those moments when your friend's simple question, "What's new?" leaves you tongue-tied because you don't want to burden them? The next time you find yourself feeling like life is too much - take a breath. Remember that most world traditions agree that the reason we’re here is to find meaning in it all. Even the really hard stuff. It might take some time, but if we keep looking, we will find it.