Relationships and Place.
There are relationships that are centered around certain places,
sometimes remaining and laying dormant there for all time,
rejuvenated only when time allows presences to align.
An Empty New Year’s Day in Bogota.
A few months ago, a monk said to me, “It’s easy to be thankful for our friends, family, good health, and positive experiences, but it’s much more difficult to be thankful for challenging situations, difficult people, and other difficult experiences. Now you’re probably wondering: why should we be thankful for these things? Well, sometimes, difficult experiences and people who make us angry or sad can show us where we might need more wisdom.”
Busyness cured by plants.
“Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.” – Paulo Coehlo
Yep, it’s that time of the year/semester when pretty much everyone I know seems to be inundated by their novel-length to-do lists.
Trees are sanctuaries.
From one forest sanctuary to another.
After my silent meditation retreat in the woods last week, I decided to ease my transition back into this noisy-cluttered-messy world (that I love nonetheless) with a short trip to D.C. for some quiet museum exploration. One place that I’ve always inexplicably overlooked during my D.C. museum days is the United States Botanic Garden, the nation’s oldest continually operating botanic garden. Now, it just might be my favorite space in D.C. (what can I say? I love being in environments that are conducive to getting the Jurassic Park theme song stuck in my head.)
It’s all yours. It’s all yours.
“We always have a choice about how we react.”
I just got back from a Thanksgiving silent meditation retreat at the Bhavana Society Monastery in West Virginia. There’s still so much to process and I haven’t finished reflecting, but I did want to share this one story from a dhamma talk I heard this past weekend. It struck me as a useful and timely reminder that fighting hate with more hate or responding to unskillful thinking with more unskillful thinking doesn’t resolve much of anything.
A Silent Thanksgiving Alone
The day after tomorrow, I’ll be heading to Bhavana Society for a 4-night silent meditation retreat. This (schedule below) is what my Thanksgiving Day will be like:
Cold Winds on Kitsuma Peak
A special visitor was in town this weekend.
Every time we reunite, we quickly come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter what we do, just as long as we’re spending that precious quality time together.
During one past visit, we decided that it would be silly and entertaining to spend time together in as many different and interesting environments that time and geography would allow.
My Community Psychology / Humanitarian Photography Journey.
30.
I launched this photography website nearly five months ago, on the day I turned 30. This year, I also sold most of my things, packed a small suitcase and backpack, and went on a nomadic travel adventure that brought me through 32 cities, 12 countries, across 3 continents. I quit smoking leisurely. I meditated more often. I’m set to finish my PhD this year. And maybe the most frightening decision of all happened this year: I decided to pursue photography more seriously.