Frequently, when I’m stressed about something, I succumb to migraine headaches. Several years back, I went to Mayo Clinic’s Headache Clinic, to see if there was a solution. To my surprise, my doctor said an interesting thing: “Did you know, Elissa, that having a headache is similar to practicing the piano? The more your brain […]
Noticing
An excerpt from Jack Kornfield’s The Wise Heart: “‘Eh,’ Ajahn Chah would peer at me when I was having a hard time, ‘caught in some state again?’ In the forest monastery we were constantly being directed both to look at consciousness itself and to precisely name the states that rose to fill it throughout the […]
Holding Yourself in Kindness
I’m reading Jack Kornfield’s book on Buddhist psychology, The Wise Heart. It’s come at a good time for me, because I’ve been ignoring physical signs that all is not well. You know when you want something really badly, and you rationalize and theorize about how it’s going to work out and how it’s going to […]
Brave on the Rocks
Life is so full of messiness, isn’t it? Questions that don’t get answered, jeans that don’t fit, feelings that get hurt, words that get said, temptations galore, orneriness that rears its head–you know, you’ve been there, I’m sure. [Okay, I’m hoping, because selfishly, I don’t want to be alone.] With all I’ve been saying this […]
A Compassionate Life
Quotes from Field Notes on the Compassionate Life: A Search for the Soul of Kindness by Marc Ian Barasch–a book which takes a look at empathy, altruism, and compassion from all walks of life. If one completes the journey to one’s own heart, one will find oneself in the heart of everyone else. –Father Thomas […]