• Have Portable Feeding Pump, Will Travel

    Me and Sarah in her adaptive stroller at Daytona International Speedway

    Or: Wherever you go, there you – and your special needs child – are. Traveling these days can test the equanimity of even the most experienced meditator. Add in a special needs child with sensory issues, mobility limitations, a bunch of medical equipment, and the…

  • Practicing Parami Under Pressure

    Resting tiger.

    In a previous post I laid out a blueprint for how I might use my practice of the Parami to live a more intentional life. The blueprint went like this: With wisdom and truthfulness, I can see the narratives I tell about my life. I can work to renounce my…

  • When I die…

    Deer vertebrae

    “Woven into our lives is the very fire from the stars and genes from the sea creatures, and everyone, utterly everyone, is kin in the radiant tapestry of being.” Elizabeth A. Johnson When I die… Do not fill my body full of embalming chemicals trying…

  • Wisdom & Patience

    Mourning dove amongst tree branches.

    As of early May, I officially completed my first half-century of life. Here is my prediction for life after 50: Some things will get better and other things will get worse. My psychic powers are astonishing, I know. It’s easy to understand that things will…

  • Renunciation: The Art of Letting Go

    Moss covered stone bench

    There’s a popular new show on Netflix that’s garnering a lot of attention: “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”. Basically, Ms. Kondo helps people get rid of clutter and organize their homes with the idea that getting rid of things that don’t ‘spark joy’ will reduce stress, generate happiness, and…

  • The Prison Is Made Of Wanting

    Over the summer I had the opportunity to do a ten day meditation retreat in New Mexico at the Vallecitos Mountain Ranch with teachers Michelle McDonald and Jesse Vega Frey. During one of his dharma talks, Jesse said something that resonated with me and has become a bit of…

  • Body

    This post is a natural extension of my last post on self identity. Of the many components that make up our self identity, our body is often the one we most strongly identify with. Much of the course of our life is informed by the…

  • The Essential Self

    I recently celebrated my 48th birthday.  50 is breathing down my neck.  Call it a mid-life crisis if you want, but lately I have been contemplating the idea of the self.  Since Sarah started on her journey of seizures, it seems that most of my…

  • Science

    Everything you do everyday has something to do with science. Dr. Stefano Bertuzzi, PhD  CEO of the American Society of Microbiology Think about everything you did in the last hour.  Without exception, every single aspect of your life is directly affected by the scientific discoveries of…

  • Uncertainty

    The Buddhist law of impermanence (Anicca in Pali) has never been more tangibly true for me than it is right now.  Things are changing at home and across the nation.  New year, new seizure types, new medications, new nursing care, new presidential administration, new era…