On being an online Buddhist Quaker (poem)

On being an online Buddhist Quaker (poem)

several times a week I open a computer window to online gatherings little zoom rectangles bloom most of these people I will never meet in person we sit together in silence connected by pixels and atoms good intentions and sacred mystery here is what I know: never in...
5 lessons of love

5 lessons of love

(before writing this blog post, I listened to Joy lab podcast episode 173: practicing the art of love.) Perhaps you, like me, have been swimming in love since before you were born. I was raised in a loving family that named me and claimed me from my earliest days....
How illness teaches us love

How illness teaches us love

Because I live with chronic illness (MS) and have been so affected by it (gradual quadriplegia), it has been one of my greatest teachers. I share those lessons with others. It’s the music I’ve been given to sing so I offer it. Each month, I think about our theme and...
Love is paying attention

Love is paying attention

We all value love. “Love makes the world go round,” goes the old song. But what is love, anyway? I was searching for a good definition, and bumped into this from a romance novel I was reading (my guilty pleasure): “There is no greater way to show love than by paying...
How to Love deeply (a poem)

How to Love deeply (a poem)

It’s simpler than you might think leave all your tattered judgments far behind enter the tabernacle of listening make a sacred vault for their words                when they are in...
Love is paying attention

Love amidst illness

This month, I am considering the kind promise “I will love without keeping score.” I’ve found this promise especially helpful in times of illness or disability. (For me, that’s every day.) It’s the scorekeeping that’s the problem. When you are ill, you may need...