Time can seem to come to a standstill when we are waiting. During my grade school days, I would stare at the clock above the classroom door silently pleading for the bell toll to release me. Sometimes, I would avert my eyes, hoping that more time would pass between my longing glances. I’d spot birds outside the window, and my jealousy grew as I sat in a hard plastic chair and ached to stretch my limbs. When I’d look back at the clock face, I was often disheartened to see how little time had passed since my last glance. I wondered whether the clock was growing too tired to make it all the way around the dial, or perhaps whether it had fallen asleep to the lull of my teacher’s voice.
Posts filed under Mindfulness
The Keys to Awareness: The Wholeness Work
Across many traditions, spiritual teachers have taught that the “ego” is not an entity, but an activity. What we call ego is ongoing psychological activity—memory, comparison, fear, desire—generated moment by moment. It is something that we are doing and not something we fundamentally are. Ego/self is a pattern of self-attention and linguistic framing—a contraction created through self-referencing.
When Awakening Becomes Avoidance
There seems to be this point on the spiritual path when we realize that the very practices meant to free us can quietly become ways of hiding. It often begins with sincere devotion, the desire to grow, to heal, to remember. Yet somewhere along the way, the quest for awakening starts to take the place of living.
An Interview with Psychotherapist on Authentic Masculinity and Embodied Healing
Daniel DeSena is a social worker and psychotherapist who has become active in leading male embodiment and self-mastery workshops locally, and also nationally on Zoom. He is passionate about the intersection of spirituality, meditation, energy work, martial arts, sexuality and embodiment. He and his twin sister, and younger brother, were raised in the Pittsburgh area. Now 52, he’s been in southeastern Michigan for 30+ years.
Be a Solar Panel: Tips for Managing the Dark Days Ahead
It was late October when I moved to Michigan from Alaska 16 years ago. The day I met my new neighbor, he enthusiastically told me some of the reasons he loved Michigan. It was reassuring, as a mom with three young kids, to hear the positive things he had to say about growing up here, but I had to admit that I was probably most excited about living in a place that has four seasons. I said that as much as I loved living in Alaska, the long winters were challenging for me—cold winters when some days the sun would rise after 10 a.m. and set before 4 p.m. I did not mention how much my mood was affected by the scarcity of light, but when I noted that I looked forward to having more sunlight during the winter, he laughed and responded with something like, “I don’t know if you know this, but even though we don’t have the same extreme when it comes to sun up and down, the sky can be gray pretty much all winter.”
Hedgewitching
In high school, I’d been set free to take French classes at the university. Waiting in the library to be picked up, I wandered and read. On a physical level I was hungry for more than stories. I didn’t eat much breakfast and found the atmosphere at school non-conducive to lunch. Like many students locked into what seemed an alien rhythm, I existed in a tattered state.
Bringing Warmth: Grief as an Anti-Racist Practice
Harriet Tubman stares at me as I approach her. I am walking in the forest behind the high school with my dogs. It is an early spring morning, the sun lighting the sky but not yet risen, trees leafless, robin and cardinal calls in my ears. In 2020, art appeared in the forest: a colorful banded ACAB (for “All Cops are Bastards” used by a variety of groups, both racist and anti-racist) sign, Toni Morrison’s portrait printed on sheet metal and Harriet, in orange and green. While Toni is gone, the others remain, and I greet them as I pass, Harriet in particular. Her eyes reach through time to touch my heart and depending on what is happening in the world, I feel her gaze as accusing, patient, angry, vulnerable, or shocked.
Field of the Five Horses
I’d been given some gourmet coffee for Christmas. It was late at night. I’d have to work in the morning, but, feeling impelled to give it a try, I brewed the rich dark potion.
The next day I remembered a night when I was eight years old. I was living in the tropics with my family, where heat thins boundaries and can induce fertile dreaming. I’d been allowed to drink a caffeinated beverage just before going to bed, a one-time occurrence. As I lay wide awake, the aquarium music from Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals played in my brain. It got louder and louder. My room faded into green mist and shoals of golden fish swam through it from various angles and directions, hovering and then dissolving. Having gone to school opposite one of those old, gothic mental hospitals, I was frightened I might be locked up in it when we returned to the States, and I clutched the sheets until the vision dissipated.
Roadside Marsh
The westbound traffic on Interstate 94 is at a crawl this morning and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a Wednesday and brilliant sunshine glints in my rear view mirror.
Beautiful Ways
I was raised in rural Colorado and on the Navajo Nation reservation in Arizona, in what is known as The Four Corners region. On a map, this area appears as a cross where four right angles meet to join Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. This is the original home of several Native American groups, including the Navajo people, also known by their preferred name of Dine’ (dih-neh), meaning “The People.” I feel fortunate to have been immersed in such a unique culture, and I often reflect on the experiences that taught me some valuable life lessons.
Hygge-- Create a Cozy Winter
Hygge, pronounced “hoo-gah,” is a Danish word that can most readily be described as a sort of coziness, although it’s more than that. It also comes from the word hugga, which is related to the word hug and means to comfort and console. So, it’s little surprise that it’s what keeps the Danes the happiest people on the planet even though they endure frigid winters with little daylight. Sunrise in a Copenhagen winter can be as late as 9:00 am while sunset can arrive not long after by 3:30 p.m.
Conscious Parenting: Why Teaching Kids About Presence Can Help Them Become More Resilient
The more present we become, the more we increase our capacity for joy. Learning to be present is challenging, irrespective of age. However, integrating mindfulness practices provides youth the tools to better process their feelings.
A Walk Within and Beyond: Labyrinths Lead the Way
The bright service-blue sign simply stating “labyrinth” caught my attention as I was driving by St. Barnabus in Chelsea, MI. It was on my literal path, thus destined to be part of my journey that day. Suffice it to say at the start of our walk together in this article, when I stood at the entrance of this 11 circuit, 40 foot labyrinth, I felt a mystical buzz. I was about to embark on a new spiritual entry point.
Conscious Parenting: Meditation For Breakfast
I’m really good at anger; I always have been. The fight response in my threat system is ready to launch. If I wanted to slip back into my old baseline of anger in that moment, I had plenty of reasons to: I was in a rush, I was hungry, I was feeling unappreciated for the things I didn’t forget to do for my sons, I was feeling vulnerable at my son’s implication that my best wasn’t enough, and I was feeling blamed for “ruining” my son’s morning routine.
Changing Our Minds--Kindness, Clarity, and Insight
Kindness, Clarity, and Insight is a collection of talks that the Tibetan Buddhist Dalai Lama gave in the USA and Canada more than forty years ago. With this and later books, the Dalai Lama brought Tibetan Buddhism and the situation in Tibet into prominent international awareness; he went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
Do Unto Others--A Modest Proposal
One morning earlier this year, I went to buy tires at a local store I’ve patronized for over four decades. The man behind the counter and I recognized each other, he’s worked there for many of those years. After we said our hellos, I told him what I needed and he said, “I’ve got the tires, but only one guy to put them on the cars. I’m full up today and for the rest of the week.” (This was on a Tuesday morning.) “Come back next Monday,” he said.
What We Can Predict
The Farmer’s Almanac predicts a colder, flakier winter than usual for those of us who live in The Mitten. Normally this would not be worth noting, but there is no “normally” anymore, and so I do note it.
Maybe I note this prediction because at a time when truth seems to be elusive, and not being prepared threatens to be deadly, The Farmer’s Almanac is a reliable source when it comes to foretelling the weather and helping people prepare. And it tips its hat to inclusivity, in that anyone is welcome to read and heed its advice—not just farmers. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac website, it is North America’s most popular reference guide and oldest continuously published periodical.
Healers of Ann Arbor: Mindful Awakenings with Julie Woodward
Through the pandemic, many people have reached out to healers and wellness teachers for self-care techniques and help through crisis. One such teacher, Julie Woodward of Mindful Awakenings, seemingly does it all. She teaches yoga for resilience, mindfulness meditation, and leads nature immersion hikes that help us all re-anchor ourselves in the present moment and recharge through times of stress.
CW Kids in the Community: Finding an In-Person Meditation Class for Your Kid
Kids who have been isolated this year might benefit a great deal from a meditation practice in the fall. Meditation is not just a way to relax—it gives kids a toolkit for handling stressful situations that life brings. It can be tricky to figure out which programs are going back to in person and what options are out there, so we did the digging for you to help families find some popular and newer meditation classes around town. Many of the meditation teachers featured graciously explained what a class with them is like, so you can get a sense of whether this is a fit for your little one. Namaste, fellow parents. It’s been a long year, and you’ve done an amazing job holding it all together for your family.
Angels On the Surgery Critical Care Ward: Ice Water, Warm Blankets, and 24/7 Prayer
It all started from eating bad chicken, or so I thought. I lost everything in my stomach over a period of three hours, and the pain was only getting worse, so I called the answering service for my primary care doctor. It was early in the morning on May fifth, and a nurse instructed me to go to the U-M Hospital ER right away. I had a lot of misgivings, mostly because I knew from a doctor friend that the U-M was still treating a significant number of people for Covid-19.
