Charles Eisenstein: Occupy Love

Food for thought within the realm of our heart-minds.

The Habits of Happiness: Training your mind, training your heart

“What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard says we can train our minds in habits of well-being, to generate a true sense of serenity and fulfillment.”

O love, O pure deep love…

O love, O pure deep love, be here, be now
Be all; worlds dissolve into your stainless endless radiance,
Frail living leaves burn with you brighter than cold stars:
Make me your servant, your breath, your core.
- Rumi

Elizabeth Lesser talks about the “Other”

I’ve been coming up against the ‘Other’ mentality lately and although I have a vague intellectual understanding of how it’s sourced from my current samsaric existence, I can’t seem to deal with it in a compassionate or effective way. It often makes for tense relations where further divisions are created and political or cultural identities are rigidified. In all honesty, I leave feeling defeated and puzzled! I have to walk myself through a process of gathering up the courage to ask for help in developing more skillful means to better understand and relate.

Today, help came in the form of this Elizabeth Lesser TED talk on “Taking the ‘Other’ out to Lunch.” I highly recommend it in these unstable times where everything is being presented as an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ situation. 99%. Are you with us or against us? The list goes on. It seems crucial to remember how we’re relating and labeling those with different views as active participants in the movement and our lives.

Lesser believes that accessing our inner ‘mystic’ and ‘warrior’ helps to navigate discrepancies in how we approach the ‘Other’. She quotes Martin Luther King Jr. in saying, “I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.” She sets up some key best practices in how to frame these kinds of interactions on a human level. Have a look.

Astonishing Light amidst the Darkness.

I’m thinking of you today, and the battle you’re facing so courageously. I can only imagine the moments of darkness that have come with the loss and the heartbreak right now. Sometimes I wish I could hold your heart gently and take your pain away but when I look a little closer, I realize there’s nothing to do but thank you, recognize your brilliance and bask in your astonishing light.

One day the sun admitted,
I am just a shadow.

I wish I could show you
The Infinite Incandescence

That has cast my brilliant image!

I wish I could show you,
When you are lonely or in darkness,

The astonishing Light
Of your own Being

- Hafiz

NEW Fall Three Jewels Vancouver Schedule!

I’ll be teaching again on Wednesdays + Fridays. Check online for the most up to date version along with workshops, special events and studio closures.

Perfect Summer Citrus Kale Salad

I’m getting ready to do a late summer planting of kale to make sure there’s enough garden bounty to last through the winter. Sometimes I think it’s silly to eat kale in the summer when there are so many other nice, fresh things to eat but I just love it so much no matter the season!  Especially when it’s prepared like this and I wouldn’t normally dare eat it raw when it’s cold outside (it’s an ayurvedic thing.)

For the full recipe,