Blog
Joy is the Present Moment with Nothing Added
Joy is the Present Moment with Nothing Added In the late 90s, I took an eight-week Mindfulness Meditation class. Before I could enroll, the instructor asked me why I wanted to do it. I said I wanted more joy in my life. His response was, “My 80-year-old Jewish Zen...
I’m Tired of Being a Work-in-Progress
I’m Tired of Being a Work-in-Progress The other day, I did something silly and ineffective for the umpteenth time in my life (details not important). I caught it quickly. As I recognized the familiarity of the behavior and the negative Gary feeling, I said to myself,...
Kindness is Good Politics
Kindness is Good Politics As I was thinking about today’s topic, two thoughts came up at the same time: kindness and politics. While this seems like an oxymoron, they should always be connected. The practice of politics is not limited to the governmental activities we...
Be Careful. Your Thoughts Travel.
Be Careful. Your Thoughts Travel. A few years ago, Cathy and I went to my hometown in Nebraska for my 50th high school reunion. Our experience provided anecdotal evidence that our thought energy is powerful and can travel long distances. We don’t need a phone or a...
Are You a High Noticer?
Are You a High Noticer? Cathy and I recently attended a storytelling gathering. The purpose was to share personal stories that impacted the spiritual direction of our lives. Most of the stories shared that evening were not Red Sea parting,...
Are You a High Noticer?
Are You a High Noticer? Being a High Noticer means seeing the little things that others miss—the subtle shifts, the unspoken words, the beauty in the ordinary. It’s about paying attention, being present, and genuinely noticing the world around you.
An SUV, the Election and Trouble at Home
Recently, I read that a woman in Mesa, AZ ran over her husband with their SUV because he didn’t vote on November 6th. She chased him through a parking lot because she was enraged about the election results. See what can happen in your personal life, if you allow the...
Personal Positive Thought Championship
I want to become a Personal Positive Thought Champion. It has always amazed me that champions consistently seem to win by the narrowest of margins. They win the ski race by one second; the 100 meter dash by a few milliseconds. The person in second place is no less a...
Enlightenment is a Practice
Since I write blogs using my own thought patterns for exploration, I have wondered if people will say – he teaches this stuff, you’d think he would have learned it by now. However, I also realize that even enlightenment is a practice. The Zen proverb “before...
Everyone in Our Home Gets Spoiled Every Day
We have a rule in the House of Clarity. Everyone who is under our roof gets spoiled. We recognize that being spoiled is defined as being overindulged, and is widely viewed as a negative. We use that phrase as an exaggeration to make a point that we want to do all...
