Hey Reader! How many times have you heard people say, "'Tis the season for giving" or "'tis better to give than receive?" Has it ever occurred to you that that's lopsided thinking? Giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin, like yin and yang. Focusing on one without spending time on the other creates an imbalance. There's a story about the two seas of Canaan that illustrates this well. The Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are both fed by the River Jordon. The Sea of Galilee receives...
7 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! What if ...? It's one of those irresistible questions that lead into the land of shoulda, woulda, coulda done, been, acted better. But it's also a question filled with promise, beloved by dreamers, because it offers a tangible option to sidestep current miseries. What if things happen FOR you instead of TO you? How we deal with setbacks and disappointments can either propel us or get us stuck. We get stuck when we stop being an active character in our own lives, when we feel like...
14 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! Whenever you get stuck or feel trapped, focusing on gratitude can help you pop out of unhelpful patterns. It might not solve the problem, but it can carve out much-needed mental and emotional space, giving you room to think and see differently. Counting your blessings also builds resilience and grit. And, most importantly, gratitude can birth hope. If the holidays are a hard time for you, hope and gratitude are two powerful tools that can help. Hope is more than a feathery thing...
20 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! Autumn is an excellent time to inventory how we're spending our time, treasures, and talents, and evaluate whether we need to recalibrate and balance our lives differently. Trees shed the trophies of recent glories and go dormant, dreaming of the life they want to surface in the spring. We plant bulbs in the soon-to-frost ground, trusting that during the rainy season they'll offer us a sign of hope. As caretakers of the landscape around us, we prune away the dead wood so our...
27 days ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader! Any new enterprise is easy to begin. When we decide to do something new, the universe appears to help with unexpected synergies, new connections, and initial interest from helpers. But once that beginner's luck evaporates, doubt creeps in: "Was this really the right time to do this?" "What progress am I really making?" "Shouldn't this be easier?" Daily habits inoculate us from despair When I was an undergraduate in theater, my professor shared a secret with us. "Every day, do one...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! These words from Saint Hildegard of Bingen jumped out at me tonight: We cannot live in a world that has been interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home. Part of the terror is to take back our own listening. To use our own voice. To see our own light. These words struck me hard because I often feel as if I'm in conversation with people who are sharing thoughts they first heard on a podcast or TikTok reel, or picked up from a friend at a country club or saw...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! Everywhere I look, there's so much suffering: war, cruelty, hunger, job loss, fear, anger . . . It's easy to get stuck thinking about how awful the people of this world can be to one another. A few years ago, I stumbled upon a Buddhist practice called tonglen. Rather than focus on breath or emptiness, tonglen involves breathing in suffering and transforming it into compassion and love. The idea is that your heart is so pure and loving that you can alchemize suffering. I love that....
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! Over the past four and a half years I’ve sent more than 200 of these newsletters. Every Tuesday, it’s been a quiet, but steady effort I contribute to tikkun olam—to heal the world. But wait, you might be thinking, it’s Wednesday. :) Yep, this is the second week, I’ve been late. Last week it was because I spent all Tuesday with friends. Yesterday, I had a battery of doctor’s appointments and then some catch-up hang time with my kid. And it was worth it. Thank you for your patience....
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader! We weren't made to spend our lives being sedentary, looking at screens all day. Our nervous systems weren't wired to be constantly bombarded by 24/7 news. Our minds weren't designed to always be in hyperdrive. We're equipped to be productive in short bursts. After which, we need to rest, refuel, and recharge. Take a break When we fail to get up and move around, become trapped in doomscrolling, and can't turn off our minds, we risk getting stuck in ever-spiralling loops of anxiety,...
2 months ago • 1 min read