writing : blog
Rest in peace, Seth Walsh "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people." -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On this "Thinking Thursday," all I am thinking about is the epidemic of young gay youth who are killing themselves…
Read the rest…
I included this haunting and beautiful poem in Life is a Verb. It was written by a man who began losing his memory in a form of dementia when he was just 41 years old, ten years ago. After I wrote to him asking for permission to include it, we corresponded over a period of time, his emails giving me…
Read the rest…
[Can you spot the gay soldier? I thought not.] mind :: my brain and yours John McCain, really: "Why are we now trying to jam this thing through?" said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who led the campaign against the provision. 'It is all about the battle-effectiveness, the morale, of the men and women who are serving in the military.'" No,…
Read the rest…
To Be of Use The people I love the best jump into work head first without dallying in the shallows and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight. They seem to become natives of that element, the black sleek heads of seals bouncing like half-submerged balls. I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,…
Read the rest…
[image by Fiona Monks] I said I would, to celebrate my 50th birthday, and so I did. And no, I probably won't post any photos of it. When I see tattoo photos, I spend most of my time trying to figure out exactly what body part that might be or obsessing over the odd-shaped freckle near it and wondering if…
Read the rest…
Four years ago this evening, a young woman died in a car accident here in Asheville. This is the story of her extraordinary leave-taking. Our job is to keep the dead alive by telling their stories. I hope you will take a moment on this autumn evening to whisper the name, "Meta, Meta," as you read about a death, a…
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 Some people don't get their 37 days. Their heart…
Read the rest…
mind :: my brain and yours Dissenters spur innovation, creativity, and social justice: “Dissent makes the group as a whole smarter and leads to more divergent thinking, but the people who stand up with those sorts of opinions often get beaten up for it." Is your organization or community set up to welcome or ostricize dissenters? I just added David…
Read the rest…
[Image from here] Cold Solace -Anna Belle Kaufman When my mother died, one of her honey cakes remained in the freezer. I couldn’t bear to see it vanish, so it waited, pardoned, in its ice cave behind the metal trays for two more years. On my forty-first birthday I chipped it out, a rectangular resurrection, hefted the dead weight in…
Read the rest…
“It is a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up the space. By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness and well as fundamental spaciousness." -Pema Chodron
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.
