Tag: Transformation
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The Sacred Space Between
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Knowing When to Stop
There is an ancient tradition in Judaism called the shmita, or sabbath year. It’s the seventh and final year of the agricultural cycle, when any and all productive activity is forbidden in that field. The intent is to give the land an opportunity to rest. Shortly after the pandemic arrived, I decided to stop working,…
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The Shift from Control to Contribution
One of the most challenging lessons I have had to learn in my spiritual journey is my relationship to control. It was a tough pill to swallow, to confront how little control I have in and over life. As human beings, we tend to seek control because we think it provides us with a sense…
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The Tiger, The Strawberry, and the Role of Beauty
There is a well-known Zen story about a rather non-conventional response to impending doom. A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him…
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The Deeper Invitation in the Story of the Empty Boat
Like the Taoist Farmer story, the story of the Empty Boat is often used by coaches to help their clients gain perspective. Here’s a short version: A fisherman is on the water at dusk with poor visibility. He sees a boat coming right towards him and starts getting frantic and yelling for the fisherman steering…
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Autumn’s Concerto
First Movement: Reminiscence The avenues were lined with gold, and the cobbled pavement, buried in brilliant scarlet. Poetically, that would have been how I’d like to describe the scene. Spending my third fall in the US and that clichéd touristy image of fall with its rich amber maple trees remains a fantasy. One reason was…
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On Being Unstoppable
Last week, I visited the webpage of a coaching school someone I know is considering. On the school’s homepage, a graduate of the program boasted that the school’s methodology had enabled her to teach her clients to be “unstoppable.” And that stopped me, right in my tracks. The nature of being human is that we…