A year ago my good friend, Trudy, began organizing a birthday party for her mother who is 100 years old today. It was to be an international event (near Vancouver, Canada) with dozens of people attending from all over North America. An inn was rented for the festive gathering, and plans were made for food,…
“Having compassion doesn’t mean we can’t take a stand. It’s important to speak up when we’ve been hurt, when we see others being hurt, and when we observe or experience examples of abuse of power. It is equally important to listen deeply and without judgment when people speak about their experiences and their suffering. What…
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential,…
I have 6,624 days left to live. More or less. Today is my birthday. I’ve completed 64 years since I found my way into this world. Several times a year I calculate how much time I have left. I do that by calculating the number of days I have lived and subtracting that number from…
Don’t try to think yourself into taking action. Don’t wait until you’re feeling better. The term used in Zimbabwe for anxiety and depression, Kufungisisa, means “thinking too much.” Do you sometimes think too much, instead of just acting? Your body was designed with the gift of movement. Let it fulfill its purpose. Let your body…
You’re starting with nothing. You sit down to write an essay (or novel) facing a blank screen. You sit down with your guitar or piano to write a song. You stare at a blank canvas with a paintbrush in your hand. There are projects that offer you something to start with: a pile of papers…
In our recent issue of Thirty Thousand Days: A Journal for Purposeful Living, we have an article on an innovative approach to mental health developed in Zimbabwe which has expanded globally to include the U.S. and Canada. In that article*, we reference the term Kufungisisa. Kufungisisa is a term used in Zimbabwe to denote both…
We’re doing a lot of slipping these days in Vermont. Our driveway, backyard, the parking area, the trails that go into the surrounding woods – they all have a surface like an air hockey game. And anyone who tries to walk is like the puck. You just can’t get a grip . . . literally.…