Recently babysitting my granddaughter, after finishing The Butter Battle Book, Ada and I opened another Dr. Seuss classic: The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. It’s a story I’ve read many times over the years, but reading it with my seven‑year‑old granddaughter brought a fresh wave of insight — the kind that only arises when […]
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins: Thoughts, Distractions, and the Path Back to Mindfulness
June 2, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Butter Side Up, Butter Side Down: Dr. Seuss, My Granddaughter, and the Second Mindfulness Training
June 1, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday night I read The Butter Battle Book to my granddaughter Ada, age seven. It was the first of three books we shared before bed, and as soon as the Yooks and Zooks began arguing about which side of their bread should face the butter, I felt a familiar bell of mindfulness ring inside […]
Celebrating Transitions: Walking with Impermanence
April 22, 2026 by
Life is always moving. Even when we feel stuck, even when we cling to what is familiar, the world continues to shift beneath our feet. In the Buddhist tradition, this truth is called anicca—impermanence. It’s not meant to frighten us. It’s meant to wake us up. We are often sad and suffer a lot when […]
Protected: Resources for LEAP
August 29, 2023 by
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Happy
July 4, 2022 by
The subject of happy was the theme of the Mindfulness In Healing Sangha on June 22, 2022. It was inspired by this quote: I am happy even before I have a reason. – Hafiz Thich Nhat Hanh says, “We have everything we need to be happy right now!” What do you need to be happy […]
The Five Levels of Compassion
May 6, 2022 by
The five levels of compassion1 came from Dr. Gabor Maté. I believe these developed out of his work for 20+ years as a pediatrician and 12+ years of working with addicts in the east side of downtown Vancouver, BC. As a child, Gabor was handed off to strangers in Hungary where he was born at […]
RAINS Meditation for Happiness
March 2, 2022 by
On October 21, 2021, I introduced this RAINS Meditation for Happiness to my colleagues in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach and I am offering a version of it tonight for my class in How to Use Mindfulness to Be Happy. The acronym RAIN has been used by […]
We Cannot Escape Impermanence
March 30, 2021 by
One of the so-called “remembrances” contains the statement, “We cannot escape impermanence.” This is recited daily in monasteries around the world. This article is about the advice that I recently gave to a colleague when she was troubled with the law of change. Consider this wisdom teaching from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh from my […]
Daily Practice
February 9, 2021 by
I want to share with you the details of my daily practice. These practices nourish me year after year and continue to be the source of my health and well-being. After I awaken, I log on to Insight Timer and begin my morning practice. I often listen to guided meditations to help me become centered and […]
Non-self
September 7, 2020 by
The Buddha’s original teaching on non-self is based on the five aggregates, skandas, of form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness. He claims that form in not self, feelings are not self, perceptions are not self, mental formations are not self and consciousness is not self because they are impermanent and they cannot stand by […]
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