In Zen Buddhism, Beginner’s Mind refers to “having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would.” (Wikipedia) Children are a perfect example of living in Beginner’s Mind. They approach every new experience with curiosity and...
Read MoreToo Quiet To Think
It’s too quiet to think! This is what so many of my clients tell me when I ask them to sit in stillness. They are uncomfortable. Fidgety. There is nothing to distract them from the silence. Even with all of the scattered thoughts running through their minds, it becomes too quiet to think. And this is exactly where I am hoping they get. Because...
Read MoreHow Driving At Night Prepares You For Life
“It’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E. L. Doctorow said this about writing, but it’s really about anything in life. You have to trust that things will be revealed as you move forward toward a goal, that there will always be enough light to see...
Read MoreRemembering Summer
Ah summer. The days are long, stretched out in light and heat and possibilities. Especially when you are a kid. For most of us, summer was the best part of the year–no school, playing all day, maybe even going on a family trip. Even if we didn’t have the ideal childhood, summer offered us a kind of...
Read MoreLearning to Fish
The summer I was six, my father taught me how to fish. We’d leave my mom home and drive out to Robert Moses State Park on the south shore of Long Island, past the swimming beaches to the fishing piers. We’d walk up and down one pier and then the other, watching the fishing people cast their clear lines over the rail and into the...
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