We all filed into the UNO Arena today to hear His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak to us New Orleanians about resilience – um, we know a little about it already and I, know a lot about it, but I wanted his perspective. And he didn’t disappoint. He’s got a simple message – compassion, love and kindness, and save the planet, peace not war, and humor. Asked what to do with children that have been…
If I am somebody It is only by standing on the shoulder of giants: Took the boys to see the Drepung Loseling monks perform a ceremony after completing the mandala – guttural singing, horns blowing, cymbals tinkling and then the dyed sands were swept up and a procession led us through Mardi Gras World to the river (a truly New Orleans ceremonial experience) where the sands were loosed into the mighty Mississippi to re-imagine our…
Welcoming the Dalai Lama to New Orleans, a City Still Rebuilding Posted: 05/17/2013 11:51 am From a talk given at Temple Sinai in New Orleans on May 9, 2013. This is part one in a series. The Dalai Lama has come to New Orleans. If I were to speak with him, this is what I might say. Your Holiness, you are coming to New Orleans at a time of some optimism, some hope. Eight years…
I’ve been thinking of a dog – again – I know, it’s crazy to think of these things. Loca is out in the country grown fat and happy at cousin Brian’s house. I secretly love that she visits my Aunt Sue – smart dog. Since my mind is on dogs, I see them everywhere. The corgi that came up to me the other day smiling ear to big ear. And then yesterday, this guy walked…
Recycling a life is not new for a lot of people who have experienced war, tragedy, and near death. Here in New Orleans, I keep meeting people who are losing their hair and I wonder to myself if hair is not a casualty of the 2005 Federal Flood. The stress of Katrina is something we all felt we have been handling, but maybe we weren’t. For me this journey through tragedy has reaped more and…
The Dalai Lama is here in New Orleans – what better timing – after 19 people were shot at a second line parade on Mother’s Day. Our prayer flags have been flapping in the wind for weeks now and there is a buzz in the air, a hope that his presence here will bring healing. A financial journalist said when the Dalai Lama visits good tidings follow in terms of the marketplace. We need more…
I was in the park on Monday and a woman approached me because she had had cancer and thought I had too. She showed me her photos of herself bald and I thought to myself while she was scrolling through her iPhone photos that she looked a lot better bald. Today, I woke at 5am and meditated and then had my coffee before reading through a number of emails that were left open to follow…
This morning Tin’s tooth fell out and tonight the tooth fairy is coming – all of this is happening at the Blue House (read: not my house). I’m not going to boo hoo but I’m just going to say this – it sucks. You wait 50 years for a child and have to split your time and it just sucks. Just sayin. No one goes into a relationship thinking it won’t last and no one…
The Dalai Lama on tour now in the United States … “we are the same human being, the way we are born, the way we die. We all want the same things – happy life, peaceful life. Bill Clinton @ Howard commencement … “the genome study shows we are 99 1/2 the same.” On the ride home from Donaldsonville yesterday afternoon, I told my friend when I was in the last years of my corporate…