Oct 30, 2016
A reader sent this in response to my recent Tenacity Notes: “This Mary Oliver poem is a sacred text to me, and I try to say it sometime every morning/day.” Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver Hello, sun in my face. Hello, you who make the morning and spread it...
Nov 26, 2016
“If you are holding anyone else accountable for your peace and happiness, you’re wasting your time.” Oprah Winfrey Never blame. “My life would be so much better if my spouse would only get their shit together.” Never blame. “If my childhood hadn’t been so...
Dec 13, 2016
I lost my footing, and I blame the election — the shock and the dread knocked me off balance, and I found myself falling back into some very negative and very old patterns. Being judgmental; noticing everything that’s wrong with a situation and nothing that’s right;...
Jan 8, 2017
I received several encouraging replies to my most recent Tenacity Notes. They helped me be not quite so unbalanced. And being not so unbalanced, I was able to receive the blessing that came in an email from a friend and Tenacity Notes reader. She said: The other day I...
Jan 31, 2017
For the past several weeks, a phrase from a song has been playing over and over in my head. I was fixin’ to get irritated by it, when I thought to wonder why it was sticking around. I listened to it as though it had a message for me, and it did! Turns out it’s...
Feb 20, 2017
Is your life one of joy? What is your service? “I slept and I dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” ~ Rabindranath Tagore
Mar 10, 2017
I came across this poem the other day, and it got me thinking. The Way It Is by William Stafford There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But...
Apr 5, 2017
“Meditate” is a word that means different things to different people. Here’s what it means in my life. Twice a day, morning and evening, I set the timer on my phone for 15 minutes. Then I practice conscious breathing — which means I breathe and I keep my...
Apr 19, 2017
A few years ago, I wrote a lot about emanating love. I learned something from that practice — one cannot simply emanate love. One must be in the flow of love in order emanate it. Think of love as a moving, flowing, stream of energy. A surging ocean of it. It is from...
May 15, 2017
There is a woman I know, an ardent Trumpist who crows out her delight at his every utterance. I, the one who teaches of the surging ocean of love, can only approach her snarling. Then I came upon this Rumi poem. Are you jealous of the ocean’s generosity? Why...