Category Archives: meditation
Writing Reveals Truth Flowing Within
Why Do I Write?
The answer is: because I have to. I need the therapy to look deep inside to provide me. I’m not talking about surface writing. You know, the kind a reporter might type when covering some disaster, a meeting, or a political event that might include both. I write only after communing with some sort of truth that bubbles up from within.  Continue reading
Love & Comfort Your Self on Sick Days
There’s something about getting sick on a day off that allows me to feel sorry for myself free of all guilt. I take pity on myself; I baby myself; I pamper myself. Nothing prevents me from going “easy” on myself and refraining from pushing to get something done. Continue reading
Counting to ONE the ‘thought-less’ way
No matter how hard I try, I can never count to 20 before an unbidden thought arises from inside of me. I get to three or four while meditating, and images pop up on an internal screen, capturing my attention.
My life is dependent on the rest of you
I am as dependent on you as you are on me, as we all are on the kindness and labor of others we too often take for granted.
As I look around, I see that my fortune is dependent on the cooperation and contributions of others. Continue reading
Remembering Warriors of all of our Ages
“Warriors have been rewarded for their service or their families have been provided support, since the beginning of organized society.
Tell best friends now why they’re the best!
My best friend died before I could tell him how much he meant to me. Continue reading
Giving Thanks For Feeling So Grateful
I want to give “thanks” today, but don’t want to offer it the Norman-Rockwell, “fake-it-‘til-you-make-it” way of the holidays. Instead, I want to share how grateful I am for such taken-for-granted “gifts” that I am only beginning to realize most of us have been given. Continue reading
‘Right to Work’ — now a State of our Union
I’m a union man. Even though I held but one adult job as a dues-paying member, I will always be a union man. Why? Because I believe it’s the truly right path for the working man to walk.
My Loving Prayer to Saint Francis of Assisi
I want to follow you and not lead
War is never the answer today (11-11-11)
On this Veterans Day, 11-11-11, what would you tell yourself if you could go back in time and greet that young man recently returned home from the war?
Twice snow uncovers October awakenings
It snowed along the East Coast of the United States today (October 29, 2011), making it the first time in more than 30 years the white stuff appeared this early outside my Conshohocken, PA, window.
A Message to all of the ’99 Percenters’
“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Breathing mindfully helps to unclog me
I never thought I’d be thankful for a stuffy nose, but it helped me to meditate without really trying. It all started on a day I was off from work, and I stayed in bed as ten thousand thoughts ran through my mind. I noticed a clogged nostril and focused all of my attention on trying to reopen it.  Continue reading
“Let’s Occupy a Vital Earth” — (L.O.V.E.)
Advice to any & all Wall Street operatives
- “We all dream of a kinder, happier world. But if we wish to make it a reality, we have to ensure that compassion inspires all our actions. This is especially true with regard to our political and economic policies. Given that probably half the world’s population lacks the basic necessities of adequate food, shelter, medical care, and education, I believe we need to question whether we are really pursuing the wisest course in this regard.  Continue reading
We have Met the Enemy and He is Us!
I looked into the other side of the political spectrum, and I saw something I hardly recognized.
I Saw Myself.
Wall Street Never Profits Anyone’s Soul!
The phone rang, and Henry Rushing answered it, hoping the call would not delay his weekly trip to church services Sunday morning. The pastor of his Presbyterian Church was on the line. Continue reading
These are the True Signs of Our Times!
When I read the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators were unfocused and without a coherent message, I took a closer look at them in Philadelphia, and discovered some were disheveled street persons looking for handouts, and one was a graduate school political science major spouting Marxist teaching.
“For the Signs, They Are A ‘Changing'”
(From Part I, These are true signs of our Times/)
The greatest protest of our generation is seeking change in all shapes and sizes. You can see it in the signs the demonstrators carry, writing the letters out really big with magic markers so that passersby need not squint to get the messages.
Bliss Arises when I Still My Self Inside
Ah, Bliss!
Choosing death so that others might live
Eight Tibetan Buddhist monks set themselves on fire to protest the Chinese occupation of their country. They took their own lives when soldiers of the army set up quarters in Tibetan monasteries.
Grant me a World of Group Friends, Amen!
As my world started to close in on me, demanding its immediate attention toward responsibilities, affairs of work, and needs in my house, I found an oasis inside of myself and in the thoughts of friends in my Kabbalah group.
End needless suffering in US debates
Tone it down, America. You are cutting off your nose to spite your face. The face of the body politic, that is, we are creating needless hurt for the countrymen we’d like to lead to our mutual goal: the pursuit of happiness.  Continue reading
You ask me: ‘WHY I AM A DEMOCRAT?’
Why am I a Democrat?
Setbacks Arise in Road to Life’s Answers
- Enroute to Shangri-La, I lost my Passport.
- My ticket to Israel and India disappeared along with all paperwork that would allow me to leave the United States to begin a 12-day pilgrimage. The trip of a Lifetime.  Continue reading
Kabbalah To Mingle With Buddhist Jaunt
What do Israel and India have in common with Istanbul and Amsterdam? Other than all starting with a vowel?
Acupuncture: ‘Dragon drives out Demon’
A Dragon entered me and drove away a Demon last night!
A student at the WON Institute performed acupuncture, penetrating into my psyche as well as my epidermis. More importantly, she opened her heart with such compassion I wept, feeling her healing spread throughout my body and soul.  Continue reading
Kabbalah pulling here, there, everywhere
I heard some familiar words spoken in a foreign language by two women and a man sitting at the table next to me, but what drew my attention was something that sounded like “Kabbalah.”
Something or Someone got to me!
Nature changes its rhythm just in time
Heard a knock at the dining room window.
Denise serves up memories at gas pump
I saw you as a little girl with a smile as bright as Shirley Temple, a chocolate-haired “Annie,” a young Rosie Perez.
‘Give Something Back’ starts from within
“I Want to Give Something Back.”
How many times have you heard this? How many times have you said it? “Give something back.” Not sure what that “something“ is, but you know you got it, and you got a “need” to share “it.”
Rabbits scamper at Conshohocken home
I see shiny red eyes staring at me, causing me to decelerate and focus where the gutter comes into contact with the street. Long white objects that look like “ears” move slightly. They twitch and turn in the direction of my car. I pull closer. “Cwazy Wabbit” looks dead at me.
Compliments lift spirits, ages you nicely
Compliment someone today.
Secret Code Broken by Number of Rings
I’d ring twice, hang up, then call back immediately. Continue reading
Who needs glasses to see your self within?
- I wear glasses. Well, I don’t wear ’em, even though I should.
Healthy Disdain for $$$ really Not Healthy
I Could never be a good businessman. Did not love money enough.
Some lessons go down easier than others
My God, when will this pain end?
Reporting the News takes Courage & Trust
Most of what I learned about journalism came from observing a true crime reporter named Michael Sangiacomo.
Utopia Exists in a Mere Change of Focus
Another Reality exists within the here and now, if I can disengage and step out of the World that I am sleep-walking in.
Short Stature Grows Larger With Love
Mr. Nice Guy Wins, but Loses in the End
I’ve had to push you from my mind, to save my mind. Get you out of my Life to live my Life.
A Taste of Heaven offered Here on Earth
Pizza Pie and a Chocolate Milkshake.
Each drew me like an oasis to a man walking alone in a desert.
Meditation helps Writer find a Gem Within
The excitement would start while half asleep, tossing and turning, waiting for morning to jump out of bed, freshen up, and make my way downstairs to discover my latest surprise.
Dance with Achilles Contoveros again
“To Dance with My Father Again.”
Hard To Believe It Got Up for TV Viewing
“It’s hard to get up for it, sometimes.”
Injustice Should Make Us All ‘Go Berserk’
“Going Berserk” has always had a wicked appeal to me.
Swimming Makes the Heart ‘Go’ Fonder
“Smile, breathe and go slowly”~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Can A Wrong Ever Serve Into A Right?
“Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a Gentleman.”
Never thought an affair I had with a married woman before turning 21 would qualify for “conduct unbecoming,” but looking back, I see how conflicted parties to such an act could become.
Do not disturb a man who’s sweating it out
Growled like a dog at a guy making noise in a sauna I was meditating in Tuesday.
Going AWOL helps a boy grow into a man
Went AWOL while a private in the US Army in 1968
Continue reading500th milestone within October 1st reach
Lord, I’m One, Lord, I’m Two, Lord, I’m Three, Lord, I’m Four,
Lord, I’m Five Hundred Miles
Away from Home. Continue reading
Conceal the Word until All are Ready for It
Wearing a chest full of ribbons on a khaki-colored shirt with Russian-like epaulets on the shoulders, I grew lots of attention at the Russian Appreciation Day at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia yesterday.
Truth once hidden usually surfaces later
“State Trooper Using Hypnosis for Investigation“
That was the headline for one of the strangest cases I ever reported.
Seeking the ‘Bliss Queen’ in Philadelphia
I wanted so much to be the Queen’s Concert.
But at what age? What stage of her life called out to me the most, as we, the audience members, watched her grow into a Spiritual goddess, one I desired to be like, to become with as One?
Buy yourself a friend – read his good word
“Make yourself a Rav, and buy for yourself a friend.”
— Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Perachya
The Great Awakening can be hard on a guy
Ashamed. Impure. Dirty.
All these feelings flashed through me as I slowly came out of what seemed like a trance, halfway between sleep and wakefulness, only to notice growth at a part of my body where there was none before.
Swimming meditation floats troubles away
Swimming meditation can work. You heard it here first. One can “nudge” out most thoughts and focus on the “here and now” as you swim one lap after another. I did.
Saying ‘I Love You’ Over & Over Again!
“I love you” was not in the way you said it, but how you said it.
Recovering from my road rage confession
Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have cursed out drivers on the open highway and prayed their mothers had never conceived them. In or at of wedlock, those dirty b . . . . . .
You’re ‘Over the Hill,’ Once You Hit Forty
Requested a dollar coffee at a Burger King last night and the Gidget-like youngster asked if she could serve a “Senior.”
Living like I’m one of ‘All God’s Creatures’
I dove into a World of Make Believe, changing from one past life to another while underwater and on land yesterday.
Can Hell Actually Be Just ‘Other People?’
Felt disconnected from the World as I knew it yesterday.
A tough road makes journey a little easier
When my father spoke Greek with the disciplinarian of the Catholic High School where I played hooky at age 14, I thought I had it made.
Continue readingImpeachment turns a loser into a winner
Each day for twenty years, the spirit of Don Quixote welcomed me into my law office. This picture hung above my desk reminding me that it was the “impossible cases” a good public defender relished. The ones you didn’t expect to win, but somehow, now and then, you’d convince a jury to see the facts your way, which in most cases, was the right way.
Continue readingBestowing spirit & essence to a new friend
I told someone I’d give up my life for them. And, I meant it. Continue reading
Forgive warrior’s defense of the sensitive
You invited me to your House, and I broke confidence in you.
Love Thy Neighbor: Don’t burn his book
Heard some Christian minister was planning to set fire to a Muslim Holy Book, the Quran, to mark the Anniversary of 9-11 this Saturday, September 11, 2010.
Walk a Labyrinth full with love & no desire
All I want to do, is Give. Not Take. Continue reading
Amy, You Smile & I find Pure Paradise!
Thank You Amy. Let the Good Times Roll!
Sit and do nothing, but only do it better
Sit and do Nothing — Better.
You don’t know how hard this is for me. To do nothing! Forget about the better part. The word “better“ implies you’ve been able to do “nothing” sometime in the past. Or that you can do nothing “better” than someone else.
Pitching pennies provides pinch per police
Street Corner Society Beckoned to Me
Radio Plays to My No. 1 Heart’s Desire
Music touched an emotional chord in me that may have been different from most folks.
Abraham, Martin & John Live On Within
Rain pours on me outside, while soft music warms me on the inside. “Abraham, Martin, and John,” the song, plays from this relatively new gadget called a portable, hand-held, transistor radio.
Guest Post’s Embarrassing Announcement
What’s the difference between Shame and Embarrassment? Are they joined at the hip? Like twins?
The shame of it all starts an upward ascent
Be careful what you wish for. You could get your heart’s desire and wish you had never asked for it in the first place.
Love Streams in All Good Consciousness
How do I explain the feelings that have come “over me?” They’re like ocean waves ebbing and flowing in each breath. Continue reading
College Life Repeats Itself Each Generation
Sat next to a long hair, skinny, “Hippie” guy at an orientation in a community college yesterday, and felt thrown back to a time years ago, sitting cross-legged on the floor across from a similar fellow wondering what the hell I was doing there.
Continue reading
Attract Them to a Higher Calling in Life
St. Michael Strikes and Heals All at Once
I felt like Alice falling in the hole after chasing a White Rabbit. But, falling “upwards” defying the laws of Gravity and Rational Sense.
Act of Contrition Helps Regain My Purity
Got Blanket Absolution yesterday. And, it felt so good, I became a 12-year-old again. Ready to face the world with a clear conscious and a pure heart.
I See You for the Very First Time, Don’t I?
- I see You more and more each day. All I need do, is look for You. Kinda scrunch up my mind a bit, squint, and let my Self go. Continue reading
I ‘intend’ nothing but positive bestowals
How do you explain “unexplainable” events?
Willie, 20 Years Later, I Still Mourn You
Although you “passed on” after your 17th birthday, you’ll remain alive for me forever. I see you in my dreams. I “feel” your presence as I walk with you, watch you, and hear the footsteps on the steps leading from the dining room to the bedroom upstairs.
Suffocate? Let go of Control & Open up Self
Grace suffocated and I retaliated by smashing my ego to help free up her passageway during group meditation this morning.
Pain Endures from Struggles in a ‘Back’ Life
The pain feels like someone thrust a spear in my back. That I was in battle. At the city of Troy. Fighting with fellow Greeks for the foolish prize of a minor King’s run-a-way, but lovely, wife, Helen. She with a face that will launch a thousand ships.
Hawk carries HSPs to their highest ideals
The hawk glides across the sky, soaring high above us as the first person to notice shouts, “there’s one.” Like children, we stare toward the heavens, at the beautiful blue sky. A normally humid August has graced us with a mild and glorious summer day, blending light breezes and the scent of flowers that drift our way from below the wooden platform we look out from.
Continue reading
School Boss drives Vietnam Veteran Nuts
Felt I was back in war maneuvering through a mine field called the new educational system yesterday.
Continue readingUnexplained ‘Pull’ leading me back Home
A gentle “pull” manifested in my Life recently. I noticed it last night while driving and wanted no more than to live in each passing moment.
‘I confess!’ I cut school with Franny O
I’m going to confess. I played hooky in seventh grade and refused to “squeal” on the kid I stayed out of class with that day.
Nature Provides Bird’s Eye View of Living
There’s a true “pecking order” that’s developing in my back yard. And all I have to do is be patient and watch it unfold moment by moment.
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Kabbalah ‘Receiving’ Helps Me in ‘Giving’
How can I divert pleasure I “receive” into pleasure I can “give?”
You can’t make Promotions Your Life’s Goal
You can keep the promotion. Wouldn’t take it, even if offered. Not if I have to make “achievements” my aim, to set a new “goal” in Life.
“Start Over’ the instant you feel a need to
Start over. That’s all I gotta do . . . Say it to myself and simply “START OVER!”
Angels Appear as Earthly Messengers
(This story was created in October 2009 but not published in its entirety until now.)
It’s just like heaven . . . Being here with you . . . You’re like an Angel. Too good to be true. When You are near me. My heart skips a beat. I can hardly stand on. My own two feet. Because I Love You; I Love You, I Do.
‘Angel Baby‘. My ‘Angel Baby‘. Oh, Ooh, I Love You, Oh, Ooh, I Do . . . No One Could Love You . . . Like I Do!
Union Activity Draws This Reporter Away
(Originally Cont’d Oct. 3, 2009, Angels Part V, Angels Appear as Earthly Messengers)
Career Paths Change Both Here and There
Misunderstandings Guide Me thru School
(Originally Cont’d Oct. 3, 2009, as Angels Part IV, Angels Appear as Earthly Messengers)
College Major Guided By a Mistake
Shared My Music with a Younger Group
(Originally Cont’d from Oct. 3, 2009, as Angels Part III, Angels Appear as Earthly Messengers)
‘Oldies‘ Pave Way for My Singing Rock Group
I got exposed to “Oldies but Goodies” in my late teenage years. That’s when I started to recruit guys my age, none of whom had been exposed to the Black neighborhoods where Jackie Toy and I met others to sing. I introduced them to “oldies” they had never heard of, particularly from their mostly Lilly White AM Radio Stations like WIBG or WIP.
