a journal of self-propelled dharma
I got cosmetic surgery today. I did not get my face pulled back into a bun (although who knows, that might come next). But there was this thing, this unsightly pallid lump the size of a pencil eraser, on my collarbone. You know, it could have been anywhere on my body and I wouldn’t have …
A guy a few blocks from my house posted a window blind for sale on Craigslist. He had priced it at $30 but when I arrived, he said $10 would do—although to buy it new would have cost close to $200. The guy didn’t care about the money—it was just that he could not bear …
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 …
This week we are told that we can extend physical contact. We can emerge from isolation and connect with select ‘family bubbles’. I ask, what is a bubble when I and so many of my close friends live alone and have no blood family? I don’t always come to a full stop at stop signs …