writing : blog
I remember so vividly the day I went to the post office to buy stamps and the man in blue handed me a book of self-adhesive stamps! Of course! Why had it taken so long to move from licking stamps to peeling stamps? It all made sense to me, yet had never occurred to me–what a great idea. I felt…
Read the rest…
I was at my 30th high school reunion on Saturday night. I’m still processing the lifetime of living I saw on people’s faces, the disappointment and pain and joy in those lines around everyone’s eyes. While pondering that reunion experience this morning, I saw this photograph, a soldier returning to her young daughter after being stationed in Iraq. Now this–this…
Read the rest…
I vividly remember my mother telling me that she was going to her 25th high school reunion. Time slowed to a grinding, smoking halt as I turned and looked at her, blinking, blinking, blinking, all the while thinking loudly inside my head, "My lord, woman, how old ARE you?" "That’s nice, Mama," I said. "That sounds like fun!," I continued,…
Read the rest…
Oh, man. Many colleges and universities are sponsoring what they are calling "Last Lectures," inviting speakers to deliver what they would if they knew it was their last lecture. For one professor, the "last" part of "last lecture" is very real. Jill Fallon has posted a must-see story and video, the "Last Lecture" of Randy Pausch, a 46-year-old Carnegie Mellon…
Read the rest…
I really loved seeing this tonight on Johnnie Moore’s blog. As Johnnie mentioned all the way from London, it’s so nice to see someone helping on YouTube, not someone laughing at or ridiculing another’s misfortune. Simple acts of kindness. I so resonated with a comment left by Jack Yan on Johnnie’s site about the video, too: "You can see why…
Read the rest…
November is a really lovely time to visit my town, here in the mountains of North Carolina. The weekend of November 16-18 should be especially lovely, I’m thinking, capped with a tiny reading by yours truly at Asheville’s spectacular independent bookstore, Malaprop’s, from 3-4pm on Sunday, November 18th. [More importantly, you can watch Emma march with her sousaphone in her…
Read the rest…
"The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness." – Dorothy Thompson This is my new favorite bumper sticker, spotted on a red Honda Element this afternoon. Must find out where to get one. The sister to this one reads LOVE > HATE, but since fear drives hate, this one seems the more elemental, the root…
Read the rest…
“…when we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings.” –Sogyal Rinpoche A year ago today, a beautiful young woman named…
Read the rest…
Tess started pre-school this fall in a wonderful Montessori school. How I wish I lived there, every child respectful and kind and engaged in wonderful learning with gorgeous wooden objects color-coordinated and all in their special place on wooden shelves, nothing out of order, nothing broken, nothing missing pieces or dusty or painted with lead paint. Children sit quietly in…
Read the rest…
Lucky Indiana, to have had the zinnia as their state flower from 1931 to 1957. The fine people of Indiana evidently lost their minds in 1957, discarding the zinnia for the peony. I can’t complain too much because I too celebrate the peony (it’s the only thing in my yard I haven’t killed, though I’ve come very very close), but…
Read the rest…
Patti Digh is the author of six books, including bestsellers Life is a Verb and Creative is a Verb. She travels the world teaching others about mindfulness: to live fully, love well, let go deeply, and make a difference. Patti's comments have appeared on PBS and in The New York Times, Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, the London Financial Times, and many other international publications. She writes a thank you note every morning.
