Consistency is more important than duration (i.e. 10 minutes a day is better than an hour a week)
I’m never going to get it right.
If I have an itch, I can scratch it.
I don’t have to feel like doing it to do it.
If I’m all fidgety and jumpy, it’s okay. My meditation will be fidgety […]

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Mother Earth
Memphis Slim
I was working as a bartender at Antone’s: Austin’s Home of the Blues when blue piano player and shouter Memphis Slim came to play, which was a big deal for blues fans—it was his first stateside gig since he had expatriated himself to Paris in the 60s. And his gig fell on my […]

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I’m always tinkering with mine. Found this article on writer’s rooms on the Guardian website. I sort of can’t stop staring at it.
Here’s what my office looks like currently. I LOVE to stare at pictures of other people’s workspaces. Hint, hint.

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Who knew there was such a thing as Books for a Better Life! Suddenly I love them.

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Would a Buddhist enjoy a job as a waitress? How would a Buddhist approach a job as a waitress? Since I have been seeking enlightenment, and have room to grow, I believe I know the answers. Let’s say I was a fully enlightened Buddha. I would enjoy a job as a waitress. I […]

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Dancing in the Dark
Bruce Springsteen
dancing-in-the-dark.mp3
I was sitting outside the Tam O’Shanter Lounge in my cab, waiting for last call to see who might stumble out too drunk to drive. Cabbie was one of my first post-high school jobs and the best career alternative I could think of at the time. It was late August, about […]

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Blue Skies
The Allman Brothers
blue-skies.mp3
My boyfriend and I were lying on the floor listening to music, smoking pot, waiting for the pizza delivery guy. I think I was about 18 years old. He wanted me to listen to “Blue Skies” by the Allman Brothers. Sure, I thought. Whatever. I like music. He cued it up and […]

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A wonderful, non-denominational piece by Chris Bynum about different ways to connect with silence. What a daring thing to write about anywhere, but especially in the New Orleans daily paper. I was interviewed for it and am quoted at the end.

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Some months ago, Beliefnet taped me giving a few short (5 mins) talks on various topics:
Becoming Fearless
Loving Yourself
Spiritual Discipline
Healing a Broken Heart
What is Meditation?

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Yesterday, Duncan and I were talking about what qualified a song as melancholy. Melancholy is not quite sadness. It seems to also include an element of longing, even of sweetness. As an enneagram 4, I feel eminently qualified to compose a melancholy playlist. (For more about the enneagram–and my obsessive interest in it, click here.) […]

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