My son Nicholas turns 15 at the end of September, which is just ridiculous. In some ways he retains the pure innocence and excitement of a little boy. In others he’s already taken on the weight of a grown man. I wish he hadn’t done so yet, even as he consciously, purposefully offers support and…
My son Nicholas, who is autistic, has never really differentiated between men and women. He’s not much of one for differentiation, anyway. So, for example, Mr., Miss, and Mrs. don’t come naturally to him. For most of his life, he has been as likely to get the honorific wrong as right. He was, and still…
I’ve interviewed Marianne Williamson three times, and she is electric: smart, fast, passionate, insightful, eloquent. In some ways, Marianne is the most frustrating person I’ve ever interviewed, because each time I’m blown away and end up wondering how she isn’t the best-known teacher of our time. And then I really think about the question and…
I am 47 years old. I turn 48 late this month. I haven’t been someone who has ever given too much weight to birthdays or the passing of the years. But this year my impending birthday is hitting me some. I’ve really not thought too much about age until very recently, but at some time…
I haven’t been posting photographs on the blog mostly because I forgot I sometimes post photographs on the blog. I post some regularly on Instagram and Facebook, anyway, so this is what Eve once called low-lying fruit. Really I was about to post on Facebook the sleeping woman whose photo I took on Sunday underneath Whitewater…
What struck me first about Sakyong Mipham was his quiet, stealthful presence. Mipham serves as temporal and spiritual director of Shambhala, a global network of meditation and retreat centers. After waiting for the Sakyong — a ruler, or earth protector, who rules by balancing heaven and earth — to join me for an interview in April…
Dare 33 34 Peaches, peaches abundant, the fruit maturing. How to select the best one? Outside in the sun in the middle of an ancient desert, baking in oil with basil, vanilla, wine. The basting brush strokes, strokes painting into a corner that leads only to new rooms to fly out to and paint. So…
[This entry is the concluding post of a six-part series presenting my talk on autism delivered at the Autism and the Pursuit of Happiness conference at the University of North Carolina earlier this year. I invite you to read all the parts in the series — the entire talk. Please see the links at the bottom of…
[This entry is Part 5 of a six-part series presenting my talk on autism delivered at the Autism and the Pursuit of Happiness conference at the University of North Carolina earlier this year. I invite you to read all the parts in the series — the entire talk. Please see the links at the bottom of…
[Part 4 of a six-part series presenting my talk on autism delivered at the Autism and the Pursuit of Happiness conference at the University of North Carolina earlier this year. To read the other parts in the series, please see the links at the bottom of this post; the series starts with Part 1 here. Thank you!…
