Meeting a Challenging Moment
Article by Tim Burnett
December 2020

Dear Friends, We finally kissed 2020 goodbye a few weeks ago, hoping for more peaceful, healthy, and productive times ahead. And yet as I write this, the U.S. is breaking tragic records for deaths from Covid-19 and Congress is debating whether to impeach President...

On Walking Meditation
Practice Instructions

by Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart Select a quiet place where you can walk comfortably back and forth, indoors or out, about ten to thirty paces in length. Begin by standing at one end of this “walking path,” with your feet firmly planted on the ground. Let your...

An Exploration of Forgiveness
Article by Tim Burnett
October 2020

To Forgive: (1) to cease to feel resentment against (an offender) (2) to give up any claim to requital (compensation or retaliation) (3) to grant relief from debt. [Merriam-Webster] “To forgive is to abandon all hope of a better past.” – author...

Contemplative Self-Care
Article by Tim Burnett
September 2020

Dear Friends, Lately I’ve been thinking about how I can support myself better in living more deeply in the way I intend: to be more grounded and deliberate in my choices at home, especially. And since I’m home so much more, this matters. Work, play, rest,...

Love in a Time of Turmoil
Article by Michael Kelberrer
August 2020

With my serenity, sense of well-being, and actual well-being assaulted on many fronts lately, I’ve been feeling desperate to make things better. At the same time, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the size and number of crises in our world right now. Maybe you can...

The Thread You Follow
Article by Tim Burnett
April 2020

Dear Friends, There’s a poem by William Stafford called “The Way It Is” that we share in class sometimes: There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You...

Just Float
Article by Carolyn McCarthy
November 2019

In my favorite holiday movie, Home for the Holidays, single mother Claudia Larson (the fabulous Holly Hunter) is living the full catastrophe. In the span of 24 hours, she gets fired, kisses her (now former) boss, and comes down with a cold. She’s headed to visit her...

Wise Neutrality
Article by Tim Burnett
August 2019

I recently ran across this quotation from James Baldwin: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing is changed until it is faced.” Mindfulness and compassion training help us with this practice of “facing” in so many ways. The practices help...