First Sight Lambs that learn to walk in snow When their bleating clouds the air Meet a vast unwelcome, know Nothing but a sunless glare. Newly stumbling to and fro All they find, outside the fold, Is a wretched width of cold. As they wait beside the ewe, Her fleeces wetly caked, there lies Hidden round them, waiting too, Earth's immeasurable surprise. They could not grasp it if they knew, What so soon will wake and grow Utterly unlike the snow. On first reading, I found Lar

There’s what we think meditation will be, and there’s what meditation is. Hah. I have to laugh at myself a little for sounding so knowing. Have I discovered anything that the billions of other practitioners through time have not? No. But, in my own small way I have come to the very real understanding that everywhere we go, there it is: our unquiet mind. Nice knowing there’s at least one sure thing in this life. As my practice has deepened, I have found myself running up again

What stops you from giving yourself the time and attention you deserve? Sit with that before you read on. Okay. If you have one or two answers, write those down. Come back to them after you've read this. For now, I'll ask: do you blame outside forces for your unhappiness, restlessness, angst? This isn't a finger-pointing exercise. I'll readily admit I do. Did. Not sure? I'm working on it. I've been "on my way back" to myself for a long time. I've been a blamer of the world at

I wake earlier and earlier these days, a habit perhaps popularly attributed to the elderly, but I'm not, I tell myself, that old. 37 as of this September. I've been taking longer and longer breaks from the drink (an editorial in my paper Life on Capitol Hill, soon to be reposted here, will mine this subject), and I find myself with more energy... I also find my mind racing. It does that, and has for as long as I can remember. Maybe that's why I drink/drank. I'm a person who's