After sleeping at the end of another obscure forest service road, bird songs began mixing with deep REM sleep sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Another crescendo of rain drops played on the roof of our space vehicle, gradually giving way to mountain mist and roaring creek waters at 3000 feet, deep in …
What is the purpose of life? Perhaps it is just to touch moments of stillness like these, to feel the connection with all living beings, to see the ever changing circle of the seasons and life, the melting of ice lakes and the resilience of small trees that bend and pop back up again on steep slopes, to witness the tragedies and the joys, to both own and transcend them all in an ever expanding heart.
If I sound alarmist, I am alarmed! I’m a father of an 11 year old who with every cheerful smile, is trusting me that I will exercise responsible stewardship and safeguard a future which in her mind, is still brimming with health and hope.
Fear not though, the darkest hour is just before the dawn. Thanks for caring. The future is in your hands. Politicians listen to two things – money and votes. It’s up to us to educate ourselves and act wisely. Everything is about to change! Peace.
Prologue. Earth Day 2014. Dr. Bill Wulsin and I left Seattle intent on following up on our acupuncture response efforts at the Oso Fire Station which we had coordinated since the epic disaster of March 22, 2014. (My previous blog post regarding the utility of acupuncture at alleviating traumatic stress and bringing hope to the …
A few days after a million tons of mud, stone, and wood slid down a steep hillside above Oso, claiming 36 lives (8 still missing) and burying a square mile of land up to 65 feet deep, Dr. Bill Wulsin phoned me and invited me to leap into action. I had just finished my final exams and was comfortably at ease, like a surfer drifting on the ocean between sets, waiting for the next group of waves to arrive. There it was and it was a big one.
Beauty is revealed in the interplay of light and shadow, and the serenely steady mind which observes impermanent phenomena, flashing across our retina, leaping from neuron to neuron within our cortex, maintaining perfect equanimity and openness as we continually update our stories, until perhaps one day the story dissolves into a perfect stream of consciousness with no fixed boundaries – the no-story story.
It is a hazardous undertaking to one’s integrity, attempting to monetize health care in a world of distorted values where many individuals can not afford to get the health care they need.
Future mothers – you know how to give birth. It’s in your genes. It’s not intrinsically complicated, though it’s obviously a lot of work (thanks mom!) Of course, it is your right and duty to avail yourself of all that modern medicine has to offer as you plan for your birth experience. But don’t forget to look at outcome statistics.
I did not know exactly where the writing would take me (do we ever know where we will end up – whether we depart with a pen, keyboard, paintbrush, or step outside the door of our comfortable hobbit hole? But I knew where to start – in the present moment, the ground under my feet…
