Growing Wings
Dearest Friend, Today, I share with you a short piece/prose poem I created, as well as a favorite poem by a beloved poet. You may remember, I’ve been pondering life and age as I approach my BIG FIVE OH. (We’re down to 33 days, BTW.) I’ve been a bit moody, I’ve been told. If you are too (and…
Silly Bird
For the past several days a bird has been flying into the windows of my house. It happens more than ten times a day, and startles me every time. It’s confusing. Hasn’t that bird figured it out by now? Doesn’t the sting of crashing into the window create enough negative reinforcement to prevent it from…
Bold Moves vs. Baby Steps
Bold moves are great. I’ve employed them in nearly every aspect of my life – career, relationships, health. They are declarative, attention-getting, powerful statements of being and arriving. I am reminded of the Star Trek episodes of my youth, where one could move from Point A to Point Z (without ever passing through B-Y) with…
Living a Passion-Filled Life
I just returned from the first real retreat I’ve had in over a decade. One where I had no access to my treasured internet and devices. I thought I would go through withdrawal, but I easily forgot all about my lack of connectivity while surrounded by remarkable natural beauty and loved ones. I ate food that came…
Retreat, Renew, Restore
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust As this note hits your inbox, I’ll be in the middle of nowhere. Well, not nowhere. Actually in the middle of Ross Lake in Washington state. Which happens to be spectacularly free of cell or wifi…
A Song And A Storm
I Live My Life In Widening Circles I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. I may not complete this last one but I give myself to it. I circle around God, around the primordial tower. I’ve been circling for thousands of years and I still don’t know: am I…
What I Carry: Final Tales from Alonnisos
I carry the places I’ve been like a layer of fine silk that initially sits on the surface and eventually absorbs into the fabric of my being. I carry with me the sights of beauty and sometimes tragedy that I always fail miserably to capture on camera. I invite in the different flavors of…
Birthing Stars: More Tales from Alonnisos
You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star. Friedrich Nietzsche In Greek mythology, the term Chaos refers to the “formless void” that eventually became the Cosmos. It represents the nothing that created everything – water, earth and air. Initially an indiscernible mess, transmuted by the force of progress to…
Into the Heart of It: Tales from Alonissos
In the past 36 hours I’ve traveled through New Jersey, Zurich, Athens, and Skiathos (a large Greek island) to get to Alonnisos (a small Greek island). I’ve been on a large plane, a medium-sized plane, a small plane, a boat and several taxis that ranged from a Mercedes sedan to a beat-up Fiat. I’ve climbed…
Dispatches from Morocco, Part II
My two weeks in Morocco have been overflowing with new sights, aromas and insights into myself and the world around me. Splashes of color, care and sacredness touch everything, from shapes of doorways to the placement of buildings and the flavors of food. I keep diving deeper into the aesthetic around elaborate inner spaces, both…