The Power of a Smile

This wordless video demonstrates the power of a smile. In each of the events portrayed in the video, all tensions are eased by the power of a smile. Watch how children play, business men collide and spill the papers, a young woman spills tea on a customer, and an angry man seem prepared to beat […]

Is There Hope for Optimism on Climate Change?

Is there hope for optimism on climate change? Al Gore thinks so. In is Ted Talk in Vancouver, British Columbia in February, 2016, Al Gore thinks there is. In his latest TED talk, Al Gore, founder and chairman of The Climate Reality Project, poses three questions that will determine the future of our planet – […]

Guided Meditation for Loving Kindness

This guided meditation for loving kindness was created by Michael Sealey and is quite good for learning how to give and receive loving kindness, compassion, happiness, abundance and healing and eliminating stress and anxiety. Michael begins with a soothing body scan that takes about 7 minutes. Then he asks us to bring into mind an […]

Climate Impacts are Overwhelming

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported last year that climate impacts are overwhelming – the full report is available online. I am reminded of Thay’s first answer in his March 2012 Q& A interview on Climate Change. He said that, We have to breathe deeply to acknowledge the fact that we humans may […]

The Leopard Roars!

“The Leopard Roars!” was shared with me by Lama Surya Das yesterday. I was so moved by it that I did some further research and found Rabbi Arthur Waskow‘s blog. The leopard locked in the cage of liturgy was definitely my experience growing up in a conservative synagogue in St. Louis. This feeling was definitely […]

Another Take on Unconditional Love

This short song by Alanis Morissette gives us another take on unconditional love. The song is called, “You owe me nothing in return.” Happy Valentines Day! Alanis sings, I’ll give you countless amounts of outright acceptance if you want it. I will give you encouragement to choose the path that you want if you need […]

The Psychology of Climate Change

Yesterday, I watched this video on the psychology of climate change from Canada’s tar sands to Chinese advertising billboards. It was done by Al Jazeera’s presenter, Gelareh Darabi, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia of Iranian descent.   click here if the video doesn’t load Climate change is no mystery. We know what we have […]

The Birth of Yehoshua

Today, we celebrate the birth of Yehoshua, also know as baby Jesus. Yehoshua is the Hebrew rendering of his name and it is rendered in Hebrew as יחשוה as explained in the video, below (which is wrong, of course). The Hebrew letter shin (ש) is the symbol for fire (from the same video – I […]

The Wisdom of Self-Compassion

The wisdom of self-compassion is one of the most vibrant teachings of our times. We may find it quite easy to be compassionate with other people when they hurt themselves or feel sad or lonely. When it comes to compassion in own life, we often fail to grasp the concept and fail to believe the […]

The Operation was Successful…

I’m sure you have heard the expression, “The operation was successful but the patient died.” The same could be said about my September 24th seminar in Santa Monica on “Healing Cancer with Meditation.” The operation was the seminar, which went quite well with nine enthusiastic attendees, Alicia Dunams as the host, and me as the […]