Wisdom on the Ward

My little boy has been sick.  Really sick.  Okay, not terminally, devastatingly, life altering-ly sick.  But sick enough that for a while there we thought he might have been all of those things.

Retreat into Silence

Towards the end of last year I went on retreat.  A silent meditation retreat.

Now I have friends who find the very thought of this abhorrent.  Who would rather stick pins in their eyes than embark on something like this.

Gratitude Revolution

For not the first time in my exploration of Buddhist philosophy I was presented with the phrase "This does not mean being a doormat".

I'm not really sure what this means.

Buddhism calls for compassion and gratitude above all else.  This seems a worthy goal.  

But sometimes in practice it can lead to a feeling of self deprecation.

Can we cultivate compassion for a person or situation in which we are being treated badly?  Is that even appropriate?

Blue Skies

Life is suffering.

And sometimes it feels like there's a lot to complain about.  

And it's wonderful how much support there is out there now if you're going through a rough patch.  

With parenting especially.  There's no shortage of places to vent.