a journal of self-propelled dharma
I’ve taken a job managing 400+ teenage volunteers, for the Vancouver International Children’s Festival. It’s a six-month full-time gig, culminating with the Festival at the end of May. Holy cow! Or given that I have already begun to conceptualize these 400 latent teenager volunteers as mutant ninja turtles—cowabunga. Dude. I’ve never worked a full-time gig …
There’s that scrabble of tiny feet again. Late at night in my turtle bus bed I lie head held stiff, an inch above the pillow. Scritchy-scratch. Houdini’s back. Over the past few days he’s grown bolder, daring to be seen in scuttle from shelf to door. He nibbles fruit, neat small bites in the morning …
What’s dying? An expired passion? Neglected dream? A situation that no longer serves you? If it’s time for it to die, help it die. Create a ritual in which you finish your relationship with it, let it go, and make room for a new thing that’ll be born out of the emptiness. – Rob Brezsny …
With the end goal of ending suffering (and saving all beings into the bargain), we bodhisattva wannabes get a toolkit of ten Clear Mind Precepts in a genuine leatherette box: don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t shit-talk others, etc. It’s pretty high-minded stuff and I can talk the talk as well as any of us who’ve …
Me six years old in the field behind the school, holding the kite up over my head. Dad at the far end of the string — higher, wait, wait – not yet! “My arms are tired.” “Wait, here it comes…no, wait….” “Daaaaaadddd!”… “Wait, no…OK… here it comes, here it comes, up, up, LET GO!” Up, …