The 4 a.m. anxiety wake-up call. Shit, not again. The mental engine sparks to life and like that the mind is a whirl of anxious thoughts and fears about this person or that, regrets about the past, apprehension about the future, money, kids, health. It’s as if they’ve been waiting there in the darker corners of the bedroom for me to stir. “He’s awake, let’s move!” So weary of this dance. Ok, let’s revisit some of the spiritual lessons. No,…
In the spring of 1999 I and another member of the American Red Cross boarded a flight bound for the Balkan conflict in Kosovo. A veteran of many humanitarian assignments, I felt no particular concern about the trip. But on the evening of my…
Imagine that you are an actor and the director calls with a new assignment. It goes something like this: “We’re sending you into a new theatre for the role of a lifetime.” So far, so good. “But be forewarned you are joining a hostile…
A bit of a departure today, maybe because it’s rainy and gray out, maybe because it seems to me a lot of us need a bit more music and joy in our lives and a lot less anger and division. When I was a…
Few of us in this day and age haven’t heard the expression, “What you put your mind to is what you become” or “Your thoughts are things so be careful with your thoughts,” or some version of the same. Thus the more motivated of…