Articles

I wrote a poem this week after a monthly meeting with a group a cherished colleagues. I described the poem as a kind of collage of things. Later today (with the help of some feedback), I thought that perhaps it could be a nice poem for this longest night—this year’s winter solstice—as well as being a fine poem for any other moment. I’m sharing it here in two photographs.  Read more ›

In any given moment, we can ask ourselves questions about our attention: “What is my attention focused on right now? Where is my attention going? Is my attention focused broadly or narrowly? Is it moving around or is it stuck on one thing?” In any given moment, we can also bring curiosity to what emotional tone is going with our attention. Read more ›

Travel hopefully. I am told a local psychiatrist who has passed away used to share this phrase often. The first time I heard the phrase, I never wanted to forget it. Isn’t it beautiful?

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In the sweet little book written by Thich Nhat Hanh, A Handful of Quiet: Happiness in Four Pebbles (2012), Thich teaches a meditation in which we imagine ourselves being something such as a flower, and we imagine feeling a quality of that that thing within ourselves. (For example, in the case of the flower, he invites us to image feeling freshness.) Read more ›

For today, first, a quote: “Healing is an on-going, organic process, not a single ‘big bang’ moment“ (Pat Ogden & Janina Fisher, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Treatment, 2015, p. 73).

Aware that sometimes there can be overt, covert, external, internal, intentional, and/or completely unintentional and inadvertent messages that may lead one to wonder if there is something wrong with them Read more ›

“Sleep is not an optional, lifestyle luxury. Sleep is a non-negotiable biological necessity. It’s a life support system….And the decimation of sleep throughout industrialized nations is having a catastrophic impact on our health, our wellness, and the safety and the education of our children.” —Matthew Walker, Talk at Google Read more ›

I came across an email today that was sent to me on Thursday, April 5, 2001. It was from a dear friend and concluded, “YOU CAN DO IT, CHAMP!”. From what I can tell, it appears I was about a day away from handing in my undergraduate thesis. Read more ›

(As do I, as do we.)

Here is a pivotal question: how do you respond to the multitudes within you?

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I wanted to share with you this short video of Dr. Maya Angelou speaking on an Oprah Winfrey Master Class that aired approximately 7 years ago, on January 16, 2011.

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For when you prefer to listen rather than read, an audio version of the blog post, Compassion Definition(s) with Inspiration from Chris Germer is now available. You can listen to the audio version here, or from within the original post.