Reflections

The human world is driven by story. We have the unique ability to enter other people’s lives through word and image. In doing so, we condense the vastness of a life into highlights, and those highlights have a way of gripping our hearts. This is as true of the story of Jesus of Nazareth as it is for each of us.

Despite my efforts in positive thinking, I still spend a lot of time steering myself out of shame spirals over the mistakes I've made and the flaws I can't seem to shake...

To the stars, we are no more than an asteroid striking Earth: a momentous force of nature playing itself out. Life will shift, adapt, and go on without us.

But we are not indifferent to the pain of Earth. We grieve because we are Earth, made of dust and breath, spirit and soil.

The full body sensation of an emotional trigger requires the Welcome Practice writ large, extended in real time to the real world. Sitting in a board meeting, I can usually do the mental work to attend to what’s being said. I can usually do the wisdom work to let go of my preconceived ideas and consider things non-anxiously. But holy hell, to be aware when bodily sensations are hijacking me? That’s hard work.

On Friday, I went for a walk in Mary Young Park, a lush oasis on the banks of the Willamette River in a suburb of Portland. Well-trodden paths meander through tall coastal redwoods and sitka spruce, big leaf maple and western red cedar, ponderosa pine and a small stand of old Oregon white oak. The river flows wide and deep at this time of the year...