Monthly Archives: December 2009
A Mouse Senses Freedom Thru Meditation
I watch the mouse scamper across the dining room rug as I take my eyes off the computer screen in the living room. Here, life is calling out to me in the quiet of my house. A living critter has the guts to come out in broad daylight, look me dead in the eye, and feel no fear from me, a being so much larger and possibly more ferocious than himself.
Second Opinions Sought for My Salvation
Psst! Hey you. Yeah, the good-lookin’ one with that Spiritual Glow about ’em.
Ever seek a second opinion on how to get into heaven? No, I’m not talking about waiting until you’re dead. I mean, right “now.”
Warmth flows to where heart’s needed
My heart opens more with a warm cup of coffee in my left hand than my right.
You got that?
2010 — see movie while seeing in new year
“2010, the Year We Make Contact.”
Mindfulness practice trashed outside home
It’s early morning. I hear trash trucks outside, up the street in my hometown of Conshohocken, PA, here in the United States. I “like” the sound. It reminds me that we are a civilized people. And, that I got all my trash out the night before, thus joining my neighbors in a semi-weekly ritual to make our lives cleaner, and hopefully better.
Dalai Lama Fulfills My Holiday Wish List
Please See original Story My Xmas Wish List to the Dalai Lama
My three wishes have come true.
Each manifested differently; I didn’t realize all were granted until the end of the day, the time in which I asked for them to come true.
Bartlows’ dinner drives away all the blues
“I remember once when mom made a delicious snack dish,” Amy said at a Christmas dinner I attended with my in-laws last night.
“Only Once?” someone cried out
Continue reading
Police nab attention whenever One roams
Saw a police force van and immediately slowed down while driving.
I do it all the time, even if I’m well within the speed limit. Habit, I guess. Always feel that I’ve done something wrong. Guilt seems to rise to the surface whenever I see police.
Coming home grows out of Inner Wisdom
Part III of Bunny Series, see Run-Away Bunny
Two days is all it took for a pet rabbit to realize an animal hutch made of wood and wire ain’t such a bad place to call “home.”
Run-Away Bunny Plans Snow Escape II
(continued from Part I, My Little Run-Away)
Where has the run-away bunny gone? Into what 18- to 24-inch snowdrift could he be hiding, this Winter of 2009-2010?
Bunny Sprints Away to Who Knows Where
Well, there’s snow all over the place. He can’t get too far, I say walking the paths cut through our lower yard and patio, looking for those tiny footprints that might show a direction Cwazy may have gone along the human-prepared path.
I search and search with no luck. Decide to check the hilltop area where the chickens are at rest. There, behind the shed, I see prints. Can’t tell if it’s a bird, chicken or a rabbit made the prints. Hey, I’m a city boy, grew up with nothing but asphalt in the back yard of my North Philadelphia home. How am I supposed to know the difference?
Don’t know how long I look before giving up. I went into the warm house but couldn’t rest. At nightfall, I grabbed a flashlight and searched again for the rabbit. Still no sign of him wherever I would flash the light. Not a sound to betray his whereabouts. He’s definitely gone.
Losing Sleep over Losing the Rabbit
I slept in wakeful fits that night. Restless. Feeling guilty for not doing enough for the little animal. Felt terrible the next day. Difficult to enjoy feeding the wild birds that flew onto the patio and nearby tree. I see their movement as the critters come toward the food; I have just placed for them. I notice slight movement to my rear — in the rabbit’s favorite spot beneath the wooden chaise lounge. I dare not look. Or hope.
“Cwazy” I sing out. “YOU CWAZY WABBIT,” comes next as a tear of joy surfaces from somewhere deep inside of me.
The bunny made it through the night! He must have burrowed into a snowbank or dug into a crevice somewhere in the back yard.
Got a Good Look from that Cwazy Wabbit
Here he is, sitting up — front paws out as he rests on his back legs — looking straight at me.
“Come here, you Cwazy Critter,” I say, reaching into his bags for crunch food and Timothy Hay, as well as a change of regular water for the bowl that froze overnight. He scampers over, jumps into his cage and chows down as if there was nothing unusual for him to have pulled an “all-nighter” outside of his home. Nuthin’ to it, at all.
* * * * * * * *
Well, he has now had two nights. Two nights in a row we let Cwazy run free in the yard and return to his cage for food and water in the morning. His white fur blends in with the snow, and I have little fear a predator will see him from above. Let him run free for now. Let him enjoy the snow. They’ll be time to round him up later. Time to return him to his home. Time for most of us this Winter to “burrow” inside and “flourish” later come Spring.
Let’s enjoy the day for whatever it has to offer us.
For a “Sequel,” see
Coming home grows out of Inner Wisdom
Run-Away Bunny Makes Snow Escape
Part I
Can’t believe I lost the rabbit. Should have forced him into his hutch instead of letting him play in the snow. More than 18 inches fell here the other night. Finally dug out and felt sorry for the critter. He refused to go into the enclosed wooden section of his hutch and sat hunched over in the wired cage, taking in the wind, snow and the cold all through the no-let-up stormy night. I was so grateful just to see that he survived, I did not want to impose any more punishment on him the next morning when I opened the cage door to feed him.
Home visit will provide internal answers
So many choices. So many books to read, words to digest. How do you know where to begin?
Each claim to have the answer, the “truth.” Each offers an inviting path to follow, a way of life that will lead to where we all want to go home.
Be Humble; Let Love Grow Inside Your Self
“Whenever I interact with someone,
May I view myself as the lowest amongst all,
And, from the very depths of my heart,
Respectfully hold others as superior.”
Snow & Zen Usher in Winter of 2009-2010
A white cap of snow covers the head of the Buddha statue in the side yard of my Conshohocken home. Snow blankets his shoulders, his lap and that part of his robe that crosses his chest from the top left shoulder to the mid-section of the belly on the right. His arms, partial chest and kneecaps remain bare and uncovered by the snow — as if to dramatically challenge the white fluffy stuff to hide the bold charcoal black statue parts beneath.
“Do good, do no harm, still your mind”
A Flower Blooms then Rests in the Buddha
Can I give a flower to a Buddhist?
To show the impermanence of beauty.
My Xmas Wish List to the Dalai Llama
Revised Xmas list:
Your Holiness:
Please grant me three wishes the next time I visit a Buddhist Center:
Think Buddha ever signed new members?
(Part IV, Continued from Life’s Journey)
QUES: What did Buddhist want on ordering a hot dog? ANS: “One with everything.”
QUES: What did he say when asked for any change? ANS: “Change must come from within.”
Path to “Beloved” starts with steps of Sufi
Life’s Journey leads me to a Tea Ceremony
(Part III, Continued from Meditation lets my energy flow from within)
Never been to a “Tea Ceremony” before. On hearing about it Sunday, I envisioned something out of “Alice in Wonderland,” with the Mad Hatter sipping a cup at a long white table, and the March Hare constantly glancing at his watch — just a bunch of silliness, per an animated movie.
Meditation Message Moves Me Mightily
Meditation lets my energy flow from within
Part II, Continued from On road to Peace, I found some “Bhuddies”
How Do I Meditate? Continue reading
On road to Peace, I found some “Bhuddies”
For the first time in my life, I attended a Buddhist gathering knowing that I wanted to learn more about meditation and the teachings about compassion and loving kindness.
Who’s Calling Me This Time? Oh, it’s YOU!
Off to a Tibetan Buddhist Center in Philadelphia, PA.
Did not know there were so many. Buddhist Centers, that is. In the USA.
Light shines from a trunk labeled ‘patience’
I sometimes feel that Patience waits for no man.
I will soar from up high with my message
(Part II)Continued from Falcon Opens World of Mystery & Hope
“No,” I scream out, waving my arms and telling the bird to go. I run up the hill, but the falcon hardly takes note of my threats, as it glides off the watering devise, in the direction of the small helpless baby chicken, and then swoops upward away from the bush and out of the yard.
Should Kipling show America the way?
Why We Want No More War Anniversaries
War is good for no one.
No one is good for war.
Falcon Reveals World of Mystery & Hope
A falcon flew in to visit me. Four times, he soared from afar, twice through graceful flights of precision flying, and twice as an attack bird zeroing in on its prey.
Listen: “Beloved” Calls to You and Me
The writing below invokes something that pulls me to a Higher Self, perhaps the Highest. And I thirst for more.
The ‘Call and the Echo‘ Calls Out to Me and You
I am calling to you from afar:
Calling to you since the very beginning of days.
Feeling God’s Presence in this Moment
I never saw God in a Santa Claus.
The right brain activates love & awareness
If you view no other video the rest of your meditative life, please see this one about Jill Bolte Taylor.
If you view no other video the rest of your meditative life, please see this one about Jill Bolte Taylor.
Pranic Healing Begets Mighty Meta Care
I hear a young voice behind me. At first, I think it was a boy. Turns out, it’s Mary Kate, a 7-year-old girl. She’s crying. Not loudly, but softly, as if she’s hurting somewhere no one can comfort her.
Contoveros 