My son and I recently returned from a service trip to Greece.  One afternoon we had some free time between our more service project and evening teaching.  We drove up to the village Fodele, also known as the Orange Village.  The town is surrounded by orange trees.  After lunch we headed up the hill from the town to look a tiny church nestled in the middle of the...

The wound is the place where the light enters you.  She read Rumi’s words.  It was eleven o’clock in the morning but the blinds were closed and the room was dark.  She wanted it that way.   She read the words again.  For the first time she noticed the tiny ray of light entering her darkness through a corner in the blind.  It fell on her chest as she lay on...

“The glassblower knows: while in the heat of beginning, any shape is possible.  Once hardened, the only way to change is to break.”  – Mark Nepo This was today’s reading from The Book of Awakening – Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have Imagine my surprise when I opened today’s reading and found this...

Yesterday was the first day of Lent, a time when Christians often make an attempt to “give something up” for forty days in order to induce some reflection on the sacrifice of Christ.  As Christians, we are not the only faith that gives things up from time to time in order to focus ourselves on sacrifice and to return to what is truly important. Following...

Last month in a regular update I receive from an executive coach our company used to work with I received a bit of a wake up call.  Roger, the coach, was telling us all that he had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor.  It was a jolt out of the blue just as he was contemplating retirement and what the “next” phase of life would be for him. ...

Two weekends ago I was fortunate enough to visit the 9-11 memorial at the site of the World Trade Center.  It is hard to believe that is has been more than ten years since that horrible day in our country’s history.  I was joined on the tour by two of my children, my oldest daughter, Lindsay and my youngest child, Jack.  Jack was only 2 1/2 on 9-11-01 so I...

This is one of my favorite quotes from one of my all time favorite movies “It’s a wonderful life”. This past weekend I celebrated my 50th birthday. I celebrated with friends and family in a way that really drove home for me how truly fortunate I am to have the life that I do. Friends traveled from Florida, North Carolina, Washington DC, and Texas to...

It has been over two months since I have written a blog post.  Much has happened since my last post at the end of November.  I am returning from a long break from blogging and the reason for the long break from blogging is that I have also returned from a long break from full time work. I retired from my full time corporate job in late 2007 to take some time off to...

I am ashamed to admit that I participated in this past week’s Black Friday ritual, not because I wanted to but because my children asked me to.  I think this possibly makes me a bad parent except that we discussed what we learned from the experience and perhaps that will change their perspectives for the future. We are a consumer driven society.  Last night...

About this time four years ago I was in Kentucky with my father.  He had been battling a rare blood disorder that had just turned in to Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.  I quit my job and traveled back home to take care of him for whatever time he had left.  This was one of the most difficult, yet one of the most rewarding times of my life.  I learned so much from...