For me, God is not our father who art in heaven, no more than a hoary bearded dude on a stone throne, or a guy on a cross. God is Everywhere and Everything and Everyone All Mixed Up Together. Got it? Okay, so tell me how you are an atheist – not believing in God – not believing in yourself and all that is swirling around you? Truly puzzling. Now take today. I had a…
1. No shaving 2. No waxing 3. No haircuts 4. No need to color your grey 5. No bad hair days 6. No errant black hairs to pluck 7. No eyebrows to pluck 8. No mascara to take off at night 9. No need to find ways to stand out in a crowd 10. No reason to not be yourself.
“It’s very hard to stop doing things you’re used to doing. You almost have to dismantle yourself and scatter it all around and then put a blindfold on and put it back together so that you avoid old habits.” Tom Waits
So I’ve been enjoying myself lately and it shows. With a dead thyroid every pound becomes a mega pound. So I decided to take a four day break from now until Jazz Fest to eat raw and detox. Today is day #2 and I feel like an ax murderer. I went to the Green Market and bought tons of kale and berries and lettuce and all things that are raw and raw and rawer. And…
I was ensconced with my computer all morning and by noon was ready to bolt, so I did. I walked towards the bayou and right at the banks was a great blue heron taking flight across the water. It was a show stopper. I just said to myself, this is where my heart belongs – this bird just told me. Then I strolled the banks of the bayou and headed down to see friends. He’s…
God is speaking to me through my horoscopes on Yahoo – this is really interesting: April 22, 2013 Taurus (4/20-5/20) Growth is a good thing, but you should take a break from pushing yourself right now. Today will not be best spent challenging yourself or starting any difficult (if revelatory) conversations. Settle in to a routine right now, and find comfort in doing the same things in familiar patterns. There is something to be said…
Tin has to bring a poem in his pocket to school this week and so I picked this one for him: Mother to Son BY LANGSTON HUGHES Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And…
A friend came by today to walk with me over to the Earth Day celebration down on the bayou. A friend I rarely see but think of often. We moseyed around and looked at all the booths, trying on funky hats, getting an ice cold Bud Light and Woody’s fish tacos and then sitting on the cool grass by the bayou and enjoying the perfect spring weather. It’s interesting to me how easy it is…
After meditation this morning at Midcity Zen Center, we continued with the study of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. We read a section on bowing and how through bowing you are stripping away any sense of self-centeredness you possess. I said that I had been a little distracted by all the bowing when I had gone to the one and only service there. Having been brought up Jewish and having so many rituals…
I went not once, but four times to the Fortier Park Festival yesterday. It’s a block from my home in a triangle park that Bob McGuire (aka the Mayor of the neighborhood) brought back from the depression of the 2005 Federal Storm by using $2000 his company donated — he gave $500 to his son’s school and took the $1,500 and turned it into $15,000 by throwing the first annual Fortier Park Festival that now…