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Listening in
(Overheard conversation in my study)
Pema Chödrön: Chitta means "mind" and also "heart" or attitude." Bodhi means "awake," "enlightened," or "completely open." Sometimes the open heart and mind of bodhichitta is called the soft spot, a place as vulnerable and tender as an open wound.
Jelaluddin Rumi: Flies collect on a wound. They cover it, those ( Read more... ) -
What about me?
Here's a link to a video with Sakyong Mipham on You Tube. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDSAAlrqAHM -
Happy Birthday, Skylar! & Mandala madness, part 2
Happy Birthday to you, Skylar. Can you really by 24 already? I wish you a wonderful, wonderful day, and the best year yet.
Back to mandalas...
In another book I have, Coloring Mandalas by Suzanne Fincher, the author, a Jungian psychotherapist, describes “The Great Round of the Psyche,” a cycle of twelve stages that we pass through many times in our ( Read more... ) -
Mandala madness
When I was in France in 2004, I picked up a book of mandalas to color. I really used to enjoy coloring as a kid, and as I was browsing one day in a bookstore in Toulouse, Plaisir & Magie du Mandala by Jean-Michel Plasait caught my eye. There was something about the symmetry and visual complexity of the mandalas that appealed to me. When I returned ( Read more... ) -
Marvelous error
Happy New Year ( Read more... ) -
Self-expression and self-indulgence
In her chapter on imagery in A Poetry Handbook, Mary Oliver cautions student poets on the power of imagery and reminds them of the “emotional excitement” it can create. She compares a poem with excessive imagery to a carnival ride that can jostle, jolt, and over-stimulate to the point of being exhausting: “In the shed electricity of too much ( Read more... ) -
Heart Meditation
I've added a link in the sidebar to a brief audio heart meditation offered by Sally Kempton on her website. Kempton invokes the image of the breath as an open door within the heart:
"Focus your attention on the breath as it comes in and goes out. Allow the inhalation to bring your awareness in the heart center...Feel that the breath is gently ( Read more... ) -
American Friends Service Committee
For those of you who may not have seen or heard about the AFSC's antiwar exhibit "Eyes Wide Shut," I recommend viewing it via the embedded link. Greg and I went to see it locally when it was in town last year, but I find the moving panoramic view of the soldiers' boots in this video to be more striking and gut-wrenching than our actual visit.
( Read more... )
