In this image, you see a woman comfortably seated in lotus, having coaxed her arms through and past her elbows. She looks content, bordering on bored. Here’s what it looks like when done by an actual person, who also appears pretty mellow: A side view: This week after a long break from my daily Ashtanga […]

Read more "Making Something Look Easy Takes Years"

I called my mother today to apologize for my “atrocious behavior.” (Those quotation marks are properly attributed as those were the words I used.) I caught her off guard. “What are you talking about?” she asked with genuine curiosity. I reminded her that several decades ago, I was 14 and a half. (I let this […]

Read more "A Decades-In-The-Making Apology"

Being an adult requires lots of strengths. One strength that is expected of grown-ups, pretty much across the board, is that of self-reliance. The idea that you do what you can to the best of your ability and draw satisfaction from the experience. Whether it be work, parenting, or garnering a new skill, the “adult” […]

Read more "Drawing a Contrast"

Years ago, I stayed overnight in the Spam capital of America: Austin, Minnesota. Although I skipped the museum tour, I did manage to meet an interesting woman. Divorced with a handful of teenagers–some biological, some adopted–she had just returned from two weeks abroad, traveling with her 14-year-old daughter. Just the two of them. While I […]

Read more "Why Go So Far Away?"

In our daily lives we are asked to share, update, and post. I translate those into “divulge, disclose, and publish.” Although we have the privilege of privacy, that is, no one is forced to use social media platforms, we oftentimes (and with abandon) divulge and disclose to anyone willing to be our audience and perhaps out of […]

Read more "The Signal (self-knowledge) Versus the Noise (perceptions of others)"

  In our culture of minute-to-minute inter-connectedness, we have come to expect ourselves and others to disclose (share one’s thoughts/experiences) AND respond (perceive and comment on the thoughts/experiences of others). Somehow we have come to regard “full engagement” as being part of a running (and oftentimes meaningless) commentary on things that 1) we don’t really understand […]

Read more "Fighting against the Absurd"

Recently I had the opportunity to “interview” for a volunteer position. Myself, along with the other volunteer candidates, were asked questions by a five-member panel. Ostensibly, these open, public interviews gave the candidates a chance–above and beyond what each of us might have shared via our written applications–to impress the panel with our detailed and […]

Read more "Women are Still Dealing with This"