There are many people on the relationship spectrum in my life these days. I spent Saturday with two couples who are lovely and loving. I’ve also spent an inordinate amount of time recently with couples where the men are unfaithful and the women deceived or disenchanted or both. I’ve spent hours and evenings with people longing to be in a relationship but caught in a trap of desire and revulsion. Across this spectrum I’ve seen…
Last night, a single winner won a $400 million Power Ball. They haven’t been identified yet, but imagine if you realized last night that you were the winner of $400 million. That would be a game changer. And how would it change your game? I already know that I would create a few foundations – one to address the education of history in this country so that white people would become more comfortable with teaching…
Now here’s a shout out to my bike – that I love. It fits me like a glove. And I haven’t been on it in a very long time – too long a time. Today we rode 10 miles to the end of the bayou bike path. Bike – I love you!
Hey Rachel, I want to give you a shout out for having a productive week. You have worked on your book project, dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s on your workshop plans, interviewed sources for your upcoming Media report, attended school meetings, done all the laundry, cleaned the house (except the tubs and toilets), finished one long ass book and started another, written in both blogs, checked in on Facebook, researched Media, Racism, and…
Yesterday, I spent the day in Baton Rouge in a meeting with the Secretary for the Louisiana Department of Family Welfare and several groups of foster to adoptive parent associations. I was making my case for training of industry professionals and prospective parents about race and parenting. It was a long day, it was a fulfilling day, and it was interesting and eye-opening from the get-go. I had poured myself a cup of tea and…
I titled this “Finding your life’s work worth” because that is exactly where I am at this point in life. Fifty four years of trying to figure it out through education, marriage(s), and wandering has brought me to this place. Where I have found, well let me not beat around the bush, nirvana. Nirvana is an ancient Sanskrit term used to describe the profound peace of mind that is acquired with liberation, and as Janis…
The dharma talk at the zen center today was Communication – a chapter in Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind by Suzuki Roshi. “When you listen to someone,” he says, “you should give up all your preconceived ideas and your subjective opinions, just observe what his way is… Just see things as they are with him, and accept these. This is how we communicate with one another… A mind full of preconceived ideas, subjects, intentions, or habits…
I was finally able to get over to the zen center to meditate this morning and it was like a breath of fresh air. Literally. My new favorite saying to Tin when he is upset is, “Take a deep breath, and count to zen.” This morning, getting ready to go, I was in the backyard watering some of the plants and was thinking about the weeds. Along the fence between my neighbor and my yard…
When I brought Tin to be tested for gifted, the woman said that he did not color inside the lines and recommended that he use video games so that he would be better at the test in six months. As if. As if I would have him perfect video games to perfect that damn test. The nerve. I had been trying to get him into Hines Elementary nursery, which since the 2005 Federal Flood and…
I know I am beginning to sound more like a new age blogger (not that there is anything wrong with that) than the usual crooner of the ups and downs of a woman’s life and self actualization, but I’m going to have to go with the new script – I feel amazing! So many things make me smile that I just walk around on a cloud these days. I ran into friends last night at…