tea and crumping

Went to Dripping Springs, Texas yesterday (just west of Austin) to lead two Peaceful Habits groups at a brain injury rehab center there.

the opposite of umbrella

photo: jetheriot

WHEN YOU FEEL a painful emotion, your instinct is to recoil. It's painful, so you pull away.

     But it's exactly at the moment when an emotion is most repugnant that you have the greatest opportunity to know it. The suffering is in the resistance — like when it drizzles, and we armor ourselves with unnecessary umbrellas. We recoil from the rain before it has even touched us. To learn to close the umbrella, to relax, to let the water find your face — it wasn't as bad as you thought it was going to be, was it? — that's the way forward. You feel it. You let it happen. You walk through the rain of it.

the first wednesday

photo: jetheriot

It takes only a few minutes for a meditation instructor to teach a person the mechanics of meditation: how to sit, how to bring the mind to the breath, etc. That's not what our first Wednesday together is about. Today the lesson is rhythm.

baby mockingbird

eye of the salamander, neck of the giraffe

PEOPLE CAN FOCUS so intently on a small area of space that they become blind to their larger surroundings.

big red robe

I BREWED Big Red Robe oolong today for my Peaceful Habits group, a tea often reserved for honored guests in China. “We’re honored guests,” one of my patients said. I said, “Of course you’re honored guests!” The tea was rust brown and smelled like toasted coconut, and when we drank it, it seemed to land squarely in the center of our hearts with a warm and mellow glow, like we were being wrapped in a big red robe.

peacefulness app

My app for iPhone and iPad -- it's called Peacefulness -- is now available on the App store. It's free at the moment, mostly because I haven't taken the time to change the price yet. But I'm going to change it soon, so get it before it's $0.99!! And drop me a line if you do download it and use it. I'm eager to hear how it's working out in the world.