If I had a magic wand, I’d wave it all over my body, magically ordering it to relax and begin to accept all the good and the bad life has to throw at me
I would want to treat it all with Equanimity.  Continue reading
Author Archives: contoveros
St. Michael the Archangel honored today!
September 29th is Michaelmas Day, the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, when everyone with the moniker of Michael will feel the roots extending from our favorite saint.  Continue reading
Creativity flows from a true act of defiance
When the Good Lord created the Universe, He created order out of chaos. He instilled Free Will in earthlings, something he withheld from the angels of whom He created first. Continue reading
Shooting political signs never the answer
I wanted to shoot the political sign I saw outside of Philadelphia the other day but ended up feeling sorry for all of us who react violently against the person we demonize on the other side of the aisle. Continue reading
Cats & Dogs would come first in a do-over
If I had my druthers, I think I would have made cats and dogs more like people and made people more like the other animals.
Yes, as God, I would have changed the Book of Genesis and created the dog first, and then, taking a rib from the first one, I would have created his loving mate and good friend, the cat. Continue reading
Dream a little (recurring) dream with me
I had my recurring dream again last night. For several years, I have gone to work at the daily newspaper, dreaming that the deadline for submitting copy was just minutes away and I had typed nothing about my story for the day.  Continue reading
Contoveros Reveals his Dark Hiding Place
You’ll never find me here.
I learned years ago that I could hide away from you whenever I feel you’re looking too closely at me or expecting me to act a certain way that I really don’t want to act, to speak, or to even think. Continue reading
’12 Angry Men’ Helps Presume Innocence
“Twelve Angry Men” influenced my decision to practice law more than any movie I can remember while growing up in a working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia and being the first in my family to go to college. The movie has done more for understanding the workings of our criminal justice system than any books or school classes could possibly provide. Continue reading
African Americans lose all, Mr. Trump
“What the hell do you have to lose?” Donald Trump shouted to the all-white audience while pretending he was asking African Americans to vote for him last week.
In response, Chris Rock responded with one word: “Everything.” Continue reading
Immigrants unite against Trump out of love
I was unashamed of the tears that fell while watching the father of a young soldier describe the sacrifice his son made for America the other night. Khizr Khan, a Muslim immigrant, spoke with pride at the Democratic Convention and I couldn’t help but see my father in him and the love all parents felt for children called by our nation to defend it. Continue reading
‘The First Dude’ will fit Bill Clinton to a T
“The First Dude!”
Well, what do you think?  Continue reading
Play as if your life depends on it – It does!
Playing is something I do quite well, if I do say so myself. I enjoyed it ever since I was a kid and don’t see how I could truly enjoy my life if I didn’t incorporate some sort of play in my daily living.  Continue reading
My Vietnam War travel from start to finish
I’m stuck in the middle of the Vietnam War, and I don’t know how to get out. I got the beginning and the end of the story completed. It’s the middle that is causing me problems. I want to show how I got to where I was, and then what happened when I got out of there alive. Continue reading
LSD Truthfulness Speaks to Past Love Lost
An LSD Trip caused me to be truthful with a girl I dated while loving another.
Fear of the black stranger causes tragedies
I cried when I saw a woman comforting a black police officer who was helping others get hospital treatment from an assassin’s attack in the streets of Dallas last night. The cop was like many I knew in the legal profession, good guardians of the peace who laid their lives on the line every day to protect us civilians, particularly those of us in the inner cities. Continue reading
‘Instigator’ muse helps to open new worlds
Can someone become the “Muse” of another?
Could my reckless and often unabashed “agitation” be the instigation for another person to find the voice she needed to speak directly from her soul?
Cat-lovers can never replace old pet’s love
“You can’t replace Trouble, no matter what you say,” I said to my wife Wendy. “He was my favorite cat, the only one that could not only catch those dirty squirrels, but also behead them and leave their carcasses behind, sans their squirrely little heads. There’ll never be another one like him.”
Mother recalls son’s last ‘earthly’ words
By TEA
It was Saturday morning, May the 19th of 2012. I awoke that early morning feeling well rested. Since the beginning of the new year, I have been working Monday through Thursday, having Fridays off. In the past, when working a full week, my Saturdays were spent sleeping in and catching up on the many hours of sleep lost during the week. Continue reading
North Philadelphia Mother Remembers
- The following is the first draft of a writing a friend from my high school recently authored after we commemorated our 50th reunion recently. I can’t wait to read the next excerpt and see what happens!  Continue reading
Words of ex-wife full of life-long wisdom
“Don’t Do It Michael,” my ex-wife, Ella Gore, told me when I began planning for a debate between the candidates running for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania in 1978. I didn’t listen to her, and I spent too much time and money on an effort that failed miserably, and kept my dreams of entering politics a nightmare that I never again wanted to materialize. Continue reading
Only one bigamist per family, thank you!
“My grandfather lied to my grandmother about another marriage he had.
I guess it may have run in the family. *
But I never got married while I still had a family. That’s what I’m talking about. He lied about being married at the time he married the only grandmother I ever knew. Continue reading
Universe brings music ‘Homeward Bound’
I saw the singer and songwriter Paul Simon last night, and he’s “still crazy after all these years.”  Continue reading
Congress protest makes me proud of USA
I’ve never been so proud of being an American as I was the past week when some forty members of the Senate held an unprecedented filibuster and it was followed up by Congressional Democrats who took the House Chamber hostage for a “sit-in” protest against our nation’s inability to halt the sale of high-powered weapons now being used for mass destruction. Continue reading
Writing grows from that free child inside
“My fingertips write like a boy left alone at home.”
He senses a freedom that he has sought for so many years but never realized he had the ability to dig into until the moment he wrote his first sentence to a story.
Anger starts out from my basic personality
Why is anger my “go-to” emotion? Why does it crop up whenever I’m confronted with something I don’t understand or something I feel threatened by?
Touch at least one heart with Meet-Up now
If you could go back in time to attend a Meet-Up in Jerusalem with the famous rabbi from Nazareth to share some bread, wine and good conversation, would you sign up and go?
Regulations needed for mass shootings!
You Don’t Buy!
If
You Don’t Fly!
It should be as simple as that! If the federal government has reasonable suspicion to place you on a terrorist “No Fly List,” you should also be barred from buying guns.
Suffering from the news eases up today
Cut Back, Michael J.
Simply cut back like the sandlot football running back you played as a kid while scampering on a field in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.
Wounds of Love Still Hurt this Soldier Boy
I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Peggy’s mother, Mary, answered and said “Hello, Michael.” She didn’t invite me in, but smiled, and I kind of smiled back.  Continue reading
Newspapering requires typing correct obit
“The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.”
I typed this over and over again, hoping that one day I’d learn the fine skill of typing as I sat in a class with all girls. Young women, I should say. I was the only male in the Delaware County Community College course of study, and I never once felt out of place or unusual.
Honesty always the best policy in her court
You should never call a woman a bitch.
Particularly if she’s wearing a long black robe and has the power to throw you in jail for anything deemed to be contempt of court. Her Court, that is. Continue reading
Coke and a Smile Now Watered Way Down
I love Coca-Cola. It has been my favorite drink since I don’t remember when. I guess it all started with the small green bottles that you had to use an honest-to-goodness bottle opener to crack open. Continue reading
A Course of Love is uniquely one of a kind!
Reading a chapter from the book, “A Course of Love,” is much like my study of the Jewish mysticism, the Kabbalah.
Emergency hits home; order soon restored
My second wife stopped breathing shortly after they placed her in the emergency vehicle.
‘Love & Rockets’ explode near this veteran
My son, Nicholas, just didn’t seem to understand how much pain I suffered in Sutcliffe Park when I took him to see fireworks on clear and starry night sky on the Fourth of July some years ago.
Dissolving Pain through seeing differently
I’ve opened my mind to a new way of seeing and I am free as long as I can keep my peripheral vision on anything but the object of my focus.
Dobbins Reunion manifests HS aging story
As soon as I turned 18 and got a draft card, I rushed to my printing shop at Dobbins Technical Institute (aka Dobbins High School) and commenced to committing a federal offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
‘Brewerytown Way’ Brought Back to Life
I see my life through the eyes of a kid who grew up in Brewerytown, swashbuckling my way through fights on the streets and later the jungles of Vietnam before finding my true calling as a spiritual clarion who wants all North Philadelphia children to return to their God-given Nature of Love. Continue reading
Gratitude arises from an Hawaiian prayer
I’m Sorry, Please Forgive Me, I Love You, Thank You!
(Ho’oponopono)
Trusting the Universe when ‘lost & found’
I lost the damn wallet again.
It was the second time in about a week it turned up missing. The first time was in Korea, and I never detected its loss. The Reverend Lee, the WON Buddhist minister leading a pilgrimage in Korea last week, had approached me with a black object in her hand. She looked worried, and I couldn’t figure out what caused her distress.  Continue reading
Happiness never found in ‘Wanting’ more
I Want to Stop Wanting!
All my life I’ve been brainwashed into “wanting something“. Now I want it to stop. Do you hear me, old Wizard of the Universe? Stop . . . my . . . wanting. Stop Me!
Smoke handcuffs me when stress hits home
I never wanted a cigarette as bad as I did when I got thrown into a “lockup” after getting kicked out of the courtroom by a judge whose ire I had raised by raising my own voice at him.  Continue reading
Some ‘WON’ is in the kitchen with Julie!
Julie traveled all the way from Chicago and came to the Lotus Flower Island with a question about her life’s purpose. By the time she left the privately owned spiritual retreat, there was no doubt whatsoever that she found the answer she was looking for.
‘I don’t know’ — first step for my true path
“I don’t know” is soon to become my life-long mantra.
It has helped me immensely in calming the “monkey mind” after a wonderful Korean woman introduced it to me, and it took a full day for me to understand its profound ramifications.
Continue readingMajestic feeling opens me to another world
I’ve been to some ten different Buddhist temples in the mountainous regions of Korea, taking in the rustic, centuries-old magnificent works of art and spiritual creations of man. I felt uplifted when entering doorways that millions, perhaps billions, of others walked through in search of peace and calm on their way to potential enlightenment.
Continue readingChanting can cure what ails your busy mind
“Namuamitabul” is a Korean Buddhist chant that means “The Buddha of infinite light, infinite life, and infinite wisdom.”
Continue readingPhiladelphia Justice with Judge Lineberger
My all-time favorite Philadelphia Judge was James Lineberger, a no-nonsense jurist who’d scare the hell out of many a defendant I’d bring to the bar of the court, and one time caused one of my clients to pass out when he sentenced him for a heinous crime a jury found him guilty of committing.
A spiritual path with a dark & stormy night
Dark Night of the Soul.”
I have no idea what Saint John of the Cross meant when writing about his spiritual struggles several centuries ago, but I feel as if I’ve been going through one all day today. 
Continue readingLaying down on the job is good meditation
“. . . Killing Me Softly With His Song!”
I never thought I’d start off a meditation tale by using the word “killing,” but in this case, I believe it is somewhat appropriate. Killing the “dis – ease” is more like it.
First learn the ‘Way’ before leading others
Pride Cometh Before the Fall.
Continue reading
Mastering one’s heart through a holy man
What’s it Like Being in the Presence of a Holy Man? Continue reading
USA could learn from South Korean friends
Korea opened me to another world in the Far East, and I can’t understand why the United States of America has not adopted some of the more useful and expeditious activities here.  Continue reading
Serving graciously as a St. Ludwig altar boy
“Ad Deum Qui Laetificat Juventutem Meam!”
That’s one of the prayers I’d recite as an altar boy at St. Ludwig’s Roman Catholic Church, and I’ll never forget it ‘til the day I die. Don’t ask me what it means right now. I never figured it out as a kid, but I loved to say it!  Continue reading
Korea calling me to seek answers within
Korea awaits me next week as I travel more than a thousand miles to find myself and discover reasons why I am still here on planet earth.
Kyrgyzstan now views the Contoveros site!
In recent days I received a visit from Kyrgyzstan at this site called Contoveros.
A Course of Love awakens love inside & out
The Beatles got it right in the 1960s.
“All You Need is Love.”
Aging is hurting me and my writing skills
Getting old is a real pain in the ass. Continue reading
Equanimity for anticipation & expectations
Carly Simon sang it . . .
The Heinz ketchup bottle illustrated what it could look like . . .
Collegeville Opens My Muse For Writing
Collegeville may or may not have been named after a religious school called “Ursinus” in the central part of Montgomery County. . . Or some long ago seminary school. I really don’t know, but I rode through it when traveling to one of the last outdoor movie theatres, the one located in Limerick, Pa, a drive-in movie just outside of Pottstown.  Continue reading
Words Prompt Me to Share Love of Music
I heard a banjo strum as I fed the birds outside near the plum tree in my yard this morning. Banjo? Strumming? Where could that have come from, I wondered?
Continue reading‘Nothing’ found when seeking Love within!
I went within and felt nothing this morning. I knew this day would come, but I thought I would put it off until the day I’d die. Yes, I thought I’d have enough juice within to tell my story until I took that last breath.
But Life fooled me. It hit me upside the head, showing me, you can’t take anything for granted. All things are subject to change. All phenomena are transitory, all are impermanent. The only permanence that exists is Love I believe that energizes us and the world we all live in. Continue reading
Name three things that inspire a better you
Day 7 – Total Balance Is Natural Balance
Create a life of magical renewal with Love
If I had a magic wand, I would wave it and remove all of the hate in our land. It would take away the hurt all felt throughout the ages of man from the beginning of time, when Cain killed his brother, and when a stupid Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a lousy bowl of soup.  Continue reading
Letter to Another Galaxy & All Friendly ETs
Love makes our world go ‘round. It provides the essence of all that exists in our solar system. It created what our scientists call the “Big Bang,” and it continues to expand even though we are unable to see it with our limited vision.
Weight loss found in ‘lightening’ myself & I
One doesn’t have to go on a diet to lose the excess weight of a lifetime of living. All you need do is to lighten your mind, get rid of burdens carried from childhood when the trauma of difficulties and missteps caused you to stumble and lose faith in your God-given direction.
Holotropic Breathwork eases my violence
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Holotropic Breathwork these past 10 days in Germany, it that I am a violent person. Violence was all around me when I was born.
Message from lower world: lighten burden
My host in Freiburg, Germany, escorted me and her husband on a shamanic journey as we lay on the carpeted floor in their guest room, and she guided us to the “lower world.” She drummed for a good 15 minutes, never letting up the beat as she walked around us, covered by blankets with eyes closed and our hearts open.  Continue reading
PTSD undergoes a Shamanistic treatment
The Shaman applied pressure with his fingers and thumbs to the side, back, and front of my skull. He told me to let him know if he caused me any pain.
The back of the heart offers ‘Will to Love’
We’ve all experienced love in one form or another. Most remember the romantic love that may have flourished when we were young and felt the longing to receive the touch of love from another person.
Calm the wandering mind & feel happiness
A Wandering Mind is an Unhappy Mind Continue reading
Journey into self opens possibilities for me
Guided Meditation Provides Understanding
Continue readingThe ‘Shadow’ helps in Spiritual Maturation
What is Healing?
‘The Way of Love’ helps me to slow down
A vicious circle has developed in my life over
“getting to somewhere always on time.”
Obstacles to German retreat removed now
I feel like the character in a comic strip who has had a cloud over his head with nothing but calamities and obstacles blocking his every move. No matter what he did, he’d be thrown off stride, be it from a torrential rainfall or an avalanche along a sunshine-filled pathway.  Continue reading
Best sleep in years follows head treatment
I got the best sleep I’ve had in years last night and I owe it all to the treatments I have received for not only what ails me, but what has been blocking my lower brain from connecting with my upper brain.
Nothing has helped my back pains now
I felt nothing this morning.
For the past five days, nothing greeted me when I got out of bed.
Home where I grew up still haunts my mind
I grew up in a two-story row house in North Philadelphia in a mixed neighborhood where we played in front of the fireplug and got ice from old ice trucks that made their way up the tiny one-way street. Continue reading
Favorite Color Sings Out the ‘Oldies’ to Me
Blue has been my favorite color since I don’t know when. I guess my parents influenced my choice when I was young. I mean, I was a boy. And I was born in in the land of the red, white, and blue. Continue reading
Fun times await all who can be a kid again
I’m Having Fun!
Universe is Conspiring to Guide All of Us
When will I ever learn to trust the Universe?
When will I develop enough faith to believe things happen for my well-being? And when can I truly trust my instincts and live more peacefully in tune with what the Cosmos is manifesting just for me ? Continue reading
Psychic Cat comes alive watching my TV
I think I’m going “Cat Shit.” You probably heard of someone going “Bat Shit.” But I’m here to tell you that I’ve gone “Cat Shit” and this is the reason why:
My Vision Board’s World-Wide Travelling
A few weeks ago, I envisioned what the coming year would be like in a “Vision Board.” I got together with a small group and pasted magazine pictures and bold 48-point type letters to a cardboard placard showing what we would like to see enfold in 2016.
Harmony of ‘The Wind’ Still Warms Me
“Wind. . . Wind . . . Blow Wind. . .. Oooooh Oooh . . .. . Blow Wind . . . !”
Day Dreams Can Often Become Mystical
Mysticism can erupt while in a dream. If you believe, you can see the future or better understand the past. You can dream up a vision and let your heart turn to what you really love, rather than be satisfied with what you already have — or have not!  Continue reading
Put Guns to Use in a More ‘Proper Way’
A gun appeared in my guided meditation last week and I was afraid something horribly wrong was about to happen. It was a small, black handgun, what they used to call a “Saturday-Night Special.” Continue reading
Psychic Powers Arise When You Believe!
Psychometry – the art of visualizing an energy force or spirit from a token or an object – really does work.
‘Singer of Truth’ is Contoveros’ Aspiration
The word, “Contoveros” in Latin means “Singer of Truth.” I didn’t know that as a child, when I learned that it was my father’s real last name. Someone at Ellis Island shortened it to “Contos.” One of my wives once told me that the new word means “Short.” Continue reading
The Ice Man Cometh for Me and for Thee
It was the ice on the truck that beckoned to me when I was six years old and playing on the one-way street near my home in North Philadelphia. Continue reading
Thinking of the Best Way to Speak to You
“Think before You Speak” reads the sign that my new best friend gave me for Christmas. She thought of me when she saw it, she said. She knew how many problems I had had with boundaries. Or, rather, lack of boundaries.  Continue reading
Reiki dream opens me to be ‘truth-telling’
Reiki, the universal life energy, opened me to one of the most vivid dreams of my life last night. And, as my Reiki teacher once told me, “Write down your dreams . . . There could be a message in store for you.”  Continue reading
Peace shared throughout the world today
“What am I doing here?” I asked myself as I sat in a cushioned chair with some 50 other people early this morning on the last day of 2015. I was here at the invitation of a woman I hardly knew, a minister, who enticed me to join the world in a planet-wide prayer for peace.  Continue reading
‘Post-Traumatic Growth’ can help you heal
I experienced something scientists have labeled “Post-Traumatic Growth” twice in my life and some forty years apart. Both led to major changes in my life and a new look at life like I never had imagined it to be.  Continue reading
Inner Being is My Winter Solstice Dream
“Inner Being” is a State of Mind
Feeling 17 again, despite the aging process
I don’t feel my age. I know I’m getting older and will soon meet my Maker. But I just can’t see myself as a senior citizen, let alone someone who will one day praise the glory of Medicare and the free rides on public transportation in Philadelphia.
Mourning Allison’s Sister with Joyful Love
I didn’t know how much joy there could be in grief until sorrow encompassed me and a warm flow of unconditional love spread throughout my entire being. Someone I knew experienced a death in her family and it hit me like a proverbial ton of bricks when I learned of her demise. Continue reading
Owning the Mental Illness Amongst Us
Mental illness scares the shit out of me. The very term conjures up images of some crazed guy with wild, straggly hair and a demon-like smile of malevolence. Steven King kind of comes to mind when I think of someone who might be a little touched in the head. A Stephen King character, that is. Not Stephen King.  Continue reading
Diving like a Mermaid to Discover Life
I love my cousin Betty Ann. She’s a few years older than me but I warmed up to her just as my adolescent hormones started to bubble up as I visited her at her farmhouse in New Jersey years ago.  Continue reading
Fear not your brightest light, let it shine!
- “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
How did we choose the journey we’re on?
I would love to write a book about how people actually came to the current journey they’re on.
‘Healthy Brain, Healthy Living’ Mystifies
I know very little about New Age holistic energy and healing. Yet, I believe that some force beyond my understanding has arisen in my life and I’ve become the beneficiary of something mystical.  Continue reading
