I once met a guy with only one arm. But I had no idea. I thought he had both arms. The guy with the missing arm and I sat together daily at a cafe one summer in 1987. I was in college and his older brother had introduced us at a party. By this time…More

My introduction to the shamanic underground of Port Townsend began one summer weekend in 2019. Daily Morning Yoga Every morning I went to a yoga class at the Madrona MindBody Institute in a converted-for-the-community military building at Fort Worden State Park. The class helped me stay positive while taking care of my mom in Port…More

Coining a term like FOMO can be challenging. How do I come up with a new word? My rational thinking above ground mind is not going to be useful. Taking a breath and surrendering to my intuition a single word appears. Play.  At first this play is conscious, maybe even a bit forced. I am…More

Discovery We are breathing all the time. So why would we need to meet our breath? Just as we can have a shared history with a partner and yet fall out of intimacy; we can fall out of a relationship with our breath. We always have an opportunity to become reacquainted with our breath. We…More

We Are Not Here By Accident “The syntactical nature of reality, the real secret of magic, is that the world is made of words. And if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish.” – Terence McKenna I walk daily on a group of trails.…More

Meeting My Teacher When I looked into his eyes it was like meeting a friend you have had your entire life. There was a mixture of delight, mischief, and curiosity. He awoke these same qualities in me. “I will be your teacher and friend,” he told me as he looked into my eyes. This was…More

I never thought much about the question “How are you doing?” until Covid started. My family went into extreme isolation. None of us left the house except for walks in our neighborhood, and we had all of our groceries delivered. My father-in-law passed, and my wife went to be with her mother, who has dementia.…More

I returned to work in September 2019 after a one-month leave of absence for my mom’s death. I was still deep in grief but decided not to hide it. I would be working at my desk and let the tears stream down my face. I did not run off to a private room to sob.…More

In the later part of January I sat down with my neighbor Anat Ben-Shaul to discuss relationships and matchmaking. We have been neighbors for 4 years and say hello to each other in passing. Anat has had longer chats with my wife and daughter. My daughter told me about Anat’s blog. I really enjoyed the…More

In the later part of January I sat down at Ophelia’s Books in the Fremont district of Seattle to talk with Jill Levine about what it is like to run a book store and about creative pursuits. Jill has two degrees, the first in philosophy and the second in studio art, specifically sculpture. Her art…More