Recently, in the struggle of moving from who I was to who I am becoming, the Universe took notice and became the world's biggest asshole Fitness Boot Camp coach who wanted to see just how serious I am about getting rid of my dad bod and firming up my core.
Open Wide the Windows, Open Wide the Doors.
Last night it poured. Rain punched a hole through the sky and came in a torrent, upsetting the fat mother spider on my porch, interrupting her dinner of a stink bug I had caught and placed in her web earlier that day.
Hello. It’s me.
I have a dear friend, my first partner...the first man I was ever blessed to be in love with, and the first man I ever hurt to his core. We have, together, over the years been able to salvage from the wreckage and repair our relationship to where now it is strong, and solid, and with mutual respect and admiration. We have healed.
The Rest Is Still Unwritten.
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?Mary Oliver I hold these truths: Life's not about a single moment of great triumph, of trophies and gold stars. Life is not about getting a degree, getting a job, squirreling away …
Beautiful Sadness.
Christmas Eve morning, I turned on Spotify. I'd heard there was a new Taylor Swift Holiday station from someone, I don't remember who. So, I figured I'd give it a try. I listened to exactly one line of Taylor's cover of "Santa Baby" before I said aloud, "No!" and opted for Mary Chapin Carpenter Holiday …
Facebook as Metaphor…
I've been sitting in meditation for at least 15 minutes a day for the past three weeks. That's not a lot of time, and I look forward to what happens down the road.It's been interesting what's come up during those short visits...taking the thoughts and feelings as simply what they are, and not treating them …
Awareness vs. Fixation
The difference between awareness and fixation is that fixation leads to regret, depression, anxiety, worry and dis-ease. Awareness leads to acceptance, planning, right action and compassion. Know when you’re aware of something, give it the amount of attention it requires and no more…anything more can and will often lead to fixation. Simple when you think …
Andy
Twice a week, I hang out with ex-convicts, recovering addicts, former prostitutes, homeless men and women, and the occasional drag queen. I lead two support groups at a center in Greensboro. Monday is a meditation and mindfulness group, open to HIV positive men and women. Thursday group is for HIV positive men. If I'm having a bad day, I go check in with these friends and get a sweet, gentle dose of "the real-real world". The real-real world is so much better, so much more immediate and so much more real than anything I'd ever see on Facebook, or on television. You can't make this shit up. It's too real for reality t.v., and it's more compassionate, gorgeous and messy.
You were always on my MIND…a repost.
The MIND. Many thanks to fellow blogger and meditator (Just made up that word) Karen Wilson for posting this from the book "7 Illusions". A few paragraphs capturing what the mind is, what it does, how it functions, and how it so often does way too much and functions way outside of its "scope of …
