These days, I write about only one subject: my sister’s cancer. It’s the only subject that feels urgent, the one that dominates my days. Even when my sister and I don’t talk […]
Spending a Life: My Sister, Cancer, and the Present Moment
On Mattering
God walks out of the room when you’re thinking about money. –Quincy Jones I think a lot about mattering. Do I matter, how can I help other people know that they matter, […]
The Problem of Suffering
I’ve been concerned about suffering since I was eight, and I went to a friend’s Baptist church with her. They had fun games about remembering things from the Bible, and—always the showoff […]
Meditation Monday: Interview with Elizabeth Kadetsky
Another in our Meditation Monday series! Writers, you might be particularly interested in this. I’m especially glad to have so many people willing to talk about their meditation practices, in part because […]
Meditation Monday: Interview with Casey Clague
Hello and welcome to the first Meditation Monday! I asked some of my friends and acquaintances to answer a few questions about meditation, and the answers were smart and funny, surprising and […]
Meditation for Skeptics
A standard message for motivational speakers and writers of self-help books is to promise that, if you do what the book suggests, you will have success. Often there’s an element of magic […]
I’m Nobody
I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How […]
On Trying to Explain My Buddhism to My Mother-in-Law
To my blog-reading peeps: this is from a letter I wrote to my new mother-in-law, who lives in England. I’m an introvert, so I hate talking on the phone. What to do […]
The Gloria Sirens 