Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World
Souls are like athletes, that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers, and rewarded according to their capacity. –Â Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain Training grounds for the soul My daughter needed surgery last year when she was four months
“Togetherness is easy. It’s relaxing. It flows. It’s what happens when we all stop trying to control each other’s actions and simply let each other be.” – Michaeleen Doucleff, Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Humans. I recently read the fun book, Hunt, Gather,
Yesterday’s spiritual exercise was tough. I was supposed to pray on Psalm 104 and consider “Where do I see this awesome glory revealed in my life and the larger world?” Unlike the day before yesterday, when I was very happy that we had some warm weather come in, I was just tired and unable to
Buddhism: Day 8 and 9 The story of the Buddha is quite fascinating. The Buddha was actually born as Prince Siddhartha around the 5th century BCE, the heir of a ruling family. This guy had it made. He was good looking, had his own palace, a beautiful wife, and he was intelligent to boot. His
After two weeks of praying five times a day, it’s not obvious that I’m becoming more humble. Nobody would notice anything different in their interactions with me. My routine, other than the actual prayers, hasn’t changed too much. At work around 1:30 I will mysteriously disappear for 15 minutes into a conference room by myself,
Buddhism: Day 12 and 13 The Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment is a popular tool used by individuals and businesses a like to determine where people fall on a number of personality traits. Are you more introverted or extroverted? Do you like big ideas or details? Do you to like to plan to improvise? I’m a fan
I’m fascinated by religions’ practices and beliefs regarding death. It seems as if every philosophical or religious tradition has some sort of “death meditation” practice. The Stoics included it in their “negative visualization” practice, Christians contemplate the death of Christ at Mass, Jews study it in the Torah, and Muslims understand that there is a
Money problems are almost never about the money Ramit Sethi has a great podcast called I Will Teach You to Be Rich (based on his website and business name). On the podcast, he interviews couples who have a specific money problem. One episode features a wife who is on the verge of divorcing her husband
My month of Islam has me especially aware of how critical I am of others. I sat in a meeting yesterday at work and the participants were asked to give feedback on a presentation that is intended to be used as a sort of marketing tool. The subject matter wasn’t important, and I had no
David Brooks latest op-ed, titled “How to Leave a Mark on People,” brought up a question that I explored during my Judaism month: what makes a strong institution? An old friend of Brooks’ recently died and Brooks describes Joe as “a community-building guy — serving his town, organizing events like fishing derbies for bevies of kids, radiating