Browsing in Native Alaskan trading posts and chatting with folks, I was surprised to learn that eagles and ravens were called “lovebirds” by the Tlingit Native Americans. Many carvings and paintings depicted them together, as in this photo of a moose antler totem pole: the eagle above with spread wings perched on top of the […]
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If I’d been wrestling with an issue during the day, when I sat down to meditate, it seemed like many pointing fingers in my mind demanded to know How?, Why? and Who’s to blame? Emotional chaos took over, destroying peace. That’s why I painted the life-sized shape of a meditator on thick paper, made from
Lizard Head and Backbend Dancer burst into my vision as I walked by the bushy vines clinging to a stucco wall in my neighborhood. When I gazed into the textured swarm of leaves, these two figures appeared to my inner vision. In the animated swirls of the foliage, I sensed dancers. Lizard Head’s mouth opened
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I walk across the street, a busy city corridor where buses park and construction cranes loom.A white plastic bag is tied to a tree like a large Christmas ornament, bulging into spiky shapes Defined, I suppose, by empty food take-out boxes inside.If it was Christmas morning, this large oddly shaped package would be The source
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The Template Scapula fly. I know this because I dipped a string in black paint, then I carefully tied it around my nude chest and back. Slowly, I moved one shoulder up as high as it would go. Deliberately, I lowered it far down. I did the same with the other side.I arched my shoulders
When I walk into a store and see long lines, my Inner Grump says, “Grrrr…” and begins her favorite rant. Are stores in the business of selling? If so, why can’t they transact a sale efficiently, rather than torture me with lines? I imagine evil bureaucratic nihilists in charge of store computers loading algorithms to
The stag and I communed for what seemed like an endless time. I thanked him for sharing his trail with me and praised his beauty again and again. I told him I would leave him gifts of salt, which I knew deer needed. But far more than mental words, our communication consisted of a surge
Leonardo Da Vinci taught his students to gaze at random abstract designs in clouds or textured mud walls. “Draw what you see,” he instructed them. I often take his advice. It’s easy to discover delightful sky-dragons or cloud castles in the air. Staring in a meditative state makes boundaries dissolve and re-form; my vision changes.
When my meditation group decided to meditate and swim with dolphins off the coast of the Big Island, Hawaii, I immediately signed up. What could be more exhilarating and divine? On a warm spring day, amid sparkling blue and turquoise waters, we putted away on a small boat and, within several miles, located an amenable
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Our family adopted a cockatiel, James Bird, when he was a baby. He instantly imprinted on my six-year old son and me; we were family for life. He loved to mirror our sounds and volume with loud chirps while he rode on my son’s back as if he were a pony, my son shouting with
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