PICK UP ONE SMALL STONE

An old Buddhist teaching says that speech should pass through 3 gates before it leaves our mouths: Is it true? Is it necessary ? Is it kind ? I have started seeing these questions as a sort of Rorschach test.   👉  Which appears: a shrinking violet or a tall sunflower? Here’s what I mean: The questions can be cautionary. Careful not to hurt anyone's feelings! Don’t speak when you’re not sure. Or, they can encourage us to speak up when truth, need, and kindness align. Be an up

What can we do to stop climate change? Talk about it.

I got to facilitate (this does circle back to explaining my gratitude for your donations) a Spring Equinox Mini-Retreat this past Sunday with my friend, Kat Palmieri. I usually think of the Spring Equinox as all daffodils, sunshine and rainbows. Yay, Spring!🤸🤸🤸 What was interesting to me in this Spring Equinox celebration was how much I felt the heavy truth of constant change. As in: even a change as welcome as the beginning of Spring, also inherently means that something

"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." - Jon Kabat-Zinn Thank you for being here!   Today is a New Moon, punctuating the start of a fresh cycle – during what feels to me like an interminable season of uncertainty and fear. Maybe, like me, you find comfort in the moon cycle's reliable invitation to look up, to look out beyond ourselves, and into the broader rhythm of life. In that spirit, please enjoy this invitation to Buddhist equanimity: 💭 Imagine 4 people

"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection." — Buddha Before I had back surgery two years ago, I would have tried anything, ANYTHING to avoid surgery. Now, with 20/20 hindsight, I'm SO grateful to have had the surgery. But, the fact is I was a nervous wreck anticipating the surgery. As part of my panicked attempt to do anything other than surgery, I got on the phone and called around to every acupuncturist in the area. One acupun

Thank you to Mamaroneck Living magazine for publishing this article in their March issue. (And you can find a related guided meditation here .) .

Enough, Together February 17th was a new moon, symbolizing new beginnings.  I don't know about you, but "new beginnings" feel pretty welcome to me right about now!  From recent conversations (or maybe I’m projecting), it seems like there is a pervading sense of wanting to do something – but also feeling like we’re not enough. Not powerful enough to make a difference, not knowledgeable enough to know what to do, not skilled enough to contribute what’s needed. Buddhists refer

Did you know that everyone, around the world, sees the moon in the same phase? 🌗🌖🌕 How about this - the first time people used the moon as a calendar? 35,000 years ago! The moon connects across time and space.   Mor Keshet encourages a practice of “interbeing” — intentionally observing our interconnection to other beings, human and non-human – as a way to feel supported and build resilience. Example: think about how plants emit the oxygen we inhale and consume the CO2 we

Robert Emmons' definition of gratitude places us in the world. It allows us to be connected to goodness beyond ourselves.

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." - Zen master Shunryu Suzuki Psychologists who study the climate change movement – and social justice broadly – think that one reason we don’t do more to make things better is that we, as humans, are incredibly uncomfortable with uncertainty. We’d rather “know” that things are going to be bad, than be unsure that they could be good.  A little crazy, right? And, I can also see it.  Uncert

One Small Stone is rooted in 3 beliefs:  We all make a difference...  “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you... You have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." - Jane Goodall …because we are all interconnected.  We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” - Martin Luther King, Jr. Mindfulness is key to making a hea

There is a saying that “the hysterical is historical.” The things that really strike a nerve – that get us going from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds flat – are rarely fresh wounds. More often, the things that feel the most overwhelming, the most painful, are chronic emotional injuries, bruises that keep getting pressed, cuts that never fully scar over. Karma, that old Buddhist concept, is a system for taking charge of the things that we can control to stop the reruns of historical pain

I'm guessing that you wouldn't mind a little more calm in your own life - and a little more equity, justice, and peace in the world.  Have you tried Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson's Climate* Venn Diagram ( based on the Japanese concept of Ikigai ) a as a framework for achieving all that? It's a framework for how to make the world better in a way that feels doable, grounded, and even joyful. Give it a go!  Set your phone's timer for 10-minutes and jot down answers to 3 questions

As the nights continue to get longer in the northern hemisphere, I've found myself thinking about light - literal and metaphoric. A few questions I've been sitting with - and am sharing here, in case they are also helpful for you: 🕯 What lights me up?  🕯 What provides a beacon of safety and hope in my community — and how can I add fuel to its energy?  🕯 Who illuminates my path? Can I hold the torch for someone else?     🕯 What - and who or with whom - do I want to turn to

"Biomimicry" is when humans mimic nature to invent solutions to our problems. A simple example is when George De Mestral, in 1948, noticed burrs stuck to his clothing as he walked through the woods and invented velcro. Mor Keshet ( https://www.morkeshet.com/ ) coined the concept of "emotional biomimicry," mimicking the metaphorical example of animals to better regulate our own emotions. For example, the snail carries her home on her back. She has enough within her, just as s

"One of the best things you can do to prepare for a disaster is to bring your neighbor a basket of muffins, because you have to get to know them before the storm." - Dr. Samantha Montano "It turns out that communities are the most important force that allows humans to weather great storms, literally and metaphorically." - Christine E. Nieves Rodriguez "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf." - Jon Kabat-Zinn I don't know about you, but life feels a little

Nature moves in cycles. In autumn, trees gracefully shed their leaves, letting them become compost on the forest floor to nourish new...

Yesterday was Juneteenth, which commemorates the day the last group of enslaved people in the United States found out they'd been freed....

Buddhism's guidance on "wise speech."

I recently learned that 10% of charitable giving happens in the last 3 days of the year (source). I’ll confess that when I heard this, a...