As the summer has been winding into fall, these past few weeks have been filled with many moments of the exceptional-yet-ordinary variety. These were moments of crystalline clarity, when nothing existed except for what was right there on the table: the food, people talking and listening, glass, cloth, pottery, and metal. The air sparkled faintly with a transcendent sense of space that was minute and endless at the same time, inconsequential and all-encompassing at once. And I loved it. Consumed in and by it, I loved it. Continue reading
Category Archives: Mindfulness
Body Maps: Do You Know What Yours Looks Like?
Early one morning, decades ago, I looked down a long hallway and saw two obese women walking toward me. Backlit by the rising sun, the two women appeared in outline; all I could see of them was the dark shapes of two bodies, surrounded by golden rays. I stood, transfixed, watching their movements as they walked, their arms swinging far out from their shoulders like ribbons on a maypole. Instead of moving easily, to and fro, with each step, their arms flew back and forth like propeller blades. The force of these arm rotations supplied energy to fling their hips and torsos forward, while their legs, stiff and straight, worked to catch up with each step. Frankly, it looked like hard work. I looked away. Continue reading
Be Here Now
“Be here now” is what Thich Nhat Hanh says. I think about that sentence a lot. It grounds me in the present and keeps me here, no matter what I’m doing, No matter when and where I’m doing it. Not there, not then, but here and now. For a long time I thought of “Be Here Now” as “be HERE now.” Sometimes “be here NOW.” But last week, for the first time, I heard myself think “BE here now.” Notice: Thich Nhat Hanh said BE here now, not DO here now. Continue reading
Sometimes You’ve Gotta Go Slow To Go Fast
I’ve heard that race car drivers have a saying: “Sometimes you’ve gotta go slow to go fast.” If you want to shave seconds off your time, you need to slow down as you head into a curve. If you want to keep up your speed, sometimes you need to back off a little. Continue reading
Checkout Line Zen II
Today is a good day for thinking about mindfulness. This sweet little #mindfulness tip comes courtesy of my friend Diane, who works as a pediatrician. She is patience personified.
Here’s what she told me a couple of weeks ago: Continue reading
A Good Week Gets Better With Intention
It has been a busy week! I was interviewed for a piece in U.S. News & World Report about my favorite topic: real food! Continue reading
Be Kind to Yourself
It just came to me that I spend my days teaching people how to be kinder to themselves, and that this kindness is designed to manifest itself in three major spheres: 1) eating patterns, 2) activity patterns, and 3) rest & relaxation patterns. It’s all about being kind to yourself, about nourishing your heart and soul with better food, more movement, and quality rest. It will be so good for you. Continue reading
What Makes You Tick?
What makes you grateful to feel your feet hit the ground every morning? What gets you up and out? Here are some of the things that inspire my work and keep me rockin’ and rollin’: Continue reading
Your Health is in You
We all could take better care of ourselves. There are any number of reasons but, ultimately, it’s always because we don’t have time. Or at least that’s what we say. Time, the ultimate resource, is limited. You can’t make any more than you get, and you get just twenty-four hours a day, the same as everyone. Continue reading
#Mindfulness in the Moment
I’ve been compiling examples of mindfulness. Some of these are mine, some are from friends (Slow Breath Soft Heart), some from family. One is a gift from our beloved 12-year-old chocolate labrador retriever, though truthfully it was more a demonstration.
Being present. Continue reading