August 15 , 2018 /

SHOES

Monday morning I boarded a train (BART) to ride from Pleasanton CA to the Oakland Airport, just five stops before getting off and onto the two-car shuttle to the airport.   As the train filled with people, I mean really filled, within the 15 minutes before leaving, I found myself looking down at the floor and

read more

August 7 , 2018 /

AN OPENING IN THE CLOUDS

Very early one morning when I woke up, I looked out the window (at 3 AM) and there was a strange narrow band of light above the mountain, Sierra Negra, which was across the river from where I lived. I wondered what it was, why it was there, what conditions caused it to be and

read more

August 5 , 2018 /

GOING BACK

BACK TO SCHOOL Why do we say that you are going “back” to school? We know generally that it means returning, often to something familiar, going “back” somewhere and that is certainly one of the meanings when using the word “back” as an adverb. However, it also implies a past condition or situation. However, if

read more

July 29 , 2018 /

REFLECTIONS

EXCERPTS from Chapter Seven in “SEVEN DECADES: A LEARNING MEMOIR”. (River House Press. 2013) LINK: www.tinyurl.com/nxlvqjn “When people in the next decade are trying to convey a picture of the most recent decade, they will use a self-portrait shot from a digital camera or cell phone held by one hand extended away from the subject. 

read more

July 26 , 2018 /

Conscious and Intentional

I reached back to September, 2011, to retrieve this short piece, prompted by a recent, thoughtful post by Whitney Johnson on feeling our feelings. Years ago I developed a little scheme for helping people to deal with what I called, reactive emotions that usually got them nowhere, except mired in their own misery and instead

read more

July 17 , 2018 /

SIGHT TO INSIGHT

“Sometimes we have blinders on. I know I have been guilty of this. What is before my eyes I haven’t always had the clarity to see. It’s amazing how experience often gives us the gift of wisdom and clarity.”   Melanie Korach, a teacher in Canada. Conversations often have a way of waking us up, especially

read more