Transformation: No Pain No Gain

This past 12 months I have been blessed…yes blessed..with a whole series of challenging situations. First, in January 2008, my wife of 15 years and I decided to live in separate houses, without any sense that we might ever get back together.  My next great challenge was a diagnosis in December of prostate cancer–slow-growing and [...]

Reverence for life: Mind without thought

Am I aware? Do I notice life beyond the framework of my own culturally constructed perception? What if I could see the forest as through the eyes of a chimpanzee, as Jane Goodall tried to imagine working with the chimps in Gombe, Tanzania.  I read her account one day following David (a chimp she observed [...]

What if God Walked in the Door?

What if God walked in the door? Would you recognize Him? Fanciful question? Perhaps.  But let’s consider what I really mean.
Miracles are happening all the time. They’re so ordinary we don’t even recognize their miraculous nature–that’s just the way things are. But every now and then, we see their true colors.
Like, for example, the very [...]

Imagination & the Sacred

I just returned from two weeks away at some marvelous events.  Some of you may have heard of The Great Mother conference which has been put on my American poet and catalyst for the conscious men’s movement Robert Bly.  Bly is quite a man and a terrific poet with great depth and heart. This conference which [...]

The Practice of Mindful Stillness

 Do you have a way to  become quiet within yourself each day? During the day do you let that stillness remind you to be mindful or observant of your thoughts and feelings as you live life? If you do, then you’re taking some good steps on the path to awakening. If not, you may be [...]

Presence & The World We Want

Let me explain why I think presence in the way I define it is so central to individual happiness, social well-being, environmental sustainability and global cultures of peace. 
As I make clear in my book–Educating for Humanity: Rethinking the Purposes of Education–the problem in society and in schools is that we are disconnected from our deeper [...]

Presence in Conversation

I had a wonderful experience last night attending a Conversation Cafe which was originated by my good friend Vicki Robin and facilitated by her with a small group of five altogether. What I will write about in this post has everything to do with Awakening and showing up in our authentic, being, as opposed to where [...]

Awakening to Peace

As a therapist I found that people seeking personal growth, awakening or just getting happier would have one question on their minds “How do I get better?” This question gets more urgent the more pain we’re in, the more we desire to be in some different state of mind than our present one. We want [...]

Making Sense of Awakening

However connectedness to the great unity comes about, it is really important to take note that something unique has happened. This suggests the importance of an on-going awareness of what is happening within our mind and body, undistracted by incessant thinking. Some form of contemplative practice is the only way I know of maintaining mindfulness. [...]

Day 1: Greetings Fellow Pathfinders

This is my first post on this blog and I’m excited to get started. I hope those of you on the path toward a bigger self will join me on this part of your journey, share your own insights, challenges and inner growth. I think the best way to start is by way of [...]