Earlier this week (click here), I explored the notion that, according to Buddhist philosophy, our heart has four faces, each one reflecting a different kind of unselfish love. Not surprisingly, each face has a direct enemy, a polar opposite that unambiguously works against the development of the positive states: The direct…
Did you know that your heart has four faces? Each sees the world in a different way and points you in a different direction, like the four needles of a compass. But each one belongs to your heart. They are known as the Brahmaviharas: Loving-kindness Compassion Appreciative joy Equanimity The image…
I cry easily. And increasingly, I cry about apparently nothing. I wish I more often had some external trigger to explain the reason for my tears. Sometimes they feel inexplicable, even uncalled for. At times, I begin to cry when sadness within me feels so vast and so deep that…
Last week we saw Steven Fales’ award-winning one-man play, Confessions of a Mormon Boy. Parts of his story resonated with my own life that I’ve described in my forthcoming memoir. The play takes us on Fales’ heartbreaking journey from being a devout Mormon and devoted father of two to coming…
Our tai chi master, Dr. Paul Lam, said something to us a few weeks ago at the end of a workshop we attended that has stuck with me: “Endings are simply the moment of new beginnings.” I’ve always hated goodbyes. All the way back when I was a little kid…
2:00 a.m. The hall light blasted into our room and our 7-year-old grandson stood in the doorway crying, “I can’t sleep.” I buried my face in the pillow, thinking this was a nightmare, but the loud wailing continued. Finally, I stumbled out into the hallway. “You’ll wake your brother. Please,…