Smiling Statues (Ancient Greece)

Those smiling statues I blogged about a couple of days ago…. What could they be smiling about?
Here’s an idea. I think that the date of their creation, about 550 BC might be important. The smiling Buddha is one of the few other smiling statuary figures that exists, and it is from around this [...]

All Saviors Disappoint

This week’s cover for the ‘New Yorker’ shows four cartoon frames. A small figure walks towards us. As it gets closer we see that it’s Obama, walking on water. The final frame shows a surprised Obama as one leg disappears beneath the surface.
Very witty. Some people really felt that, like Jesus, [...]

Love

There are many things worth remembering, and one of these is that love can only come into a place of stillness within us. It cannot make itself felt in turmoil, because confusion is all we can feel at such times.
If you want love in your life you may have to practice stillness.

And now some good news….

In case you’re already agonizing over the Christmas gift challenge, help is at hand.  My new book, ‘Write Your Memoir: the soul work of telling your story’ will be out on December 1st, and so just in time for that special writer in your life.  Perhaps for you? Perhaps as a stocking stuffer?
No, I’m not [...]

Tell Your Life Story; It’s Good for the Soul

One of the things I’ve come to appreciate is that whenever we tell our life story (and I don’t mean just blurting out a few details to a stranger about how we feel we’ve been mistreated) then we are forced to reassess important aspects of who we are.
This is best accomplished when we write things [...]

Do You Love Yourself?

The relationship we have with ourselves is mirrored in the relationships we have with others.
If you’re wondering why your outer relationships are a bit scrambled, look inward first; similarly, if you’re confused about your relationship with yourself, take a look at what’s occuring with your interactions with others.  It’ll give you useful clues. For instance: [...]

As tasks unfold

Have you ever had the experience of starting a project, completing it, and then realizing that all the time there was another sub-text that was at work that you hadn’t recognized?  Now, if you have time and opportunity, that can be delightful.  You go back and do the task again, refreshing it, so to speak, [...]

Leonard Cohen

Last night I went to see Leonard Cohen, the man who helped transform the 1960s and 1970s, at the Wang Theater. The old stager was every bit as good as ever, and, once again, he turned our hearts inside out.
Perhaps part of his appeal is that he doesn’t just sing about events, or things, [...]

Are You a Bookie? How to become wiser….

A bookie, in this case, means anyone who loves books and book-clubs - not the kind of bookie who takes bets at a racetrack. I imagine one can be both, so we’ll exclude no one, especially as the event is designed to encourage those who have book clubs or are thinking of starting one [...]

Earth Day: and Love

Earth Day, which started in 1970, was originally much more emphatic than anything we’re likely to see these days. For example, thirty-nine years ago demonstrators poured oil over the sidewalk at the Department of the Interior, in Washington, to protest oil spills. Then the focus was pollution. But now, even with Global Warming [...]