What a downer of a topic! Who wants to think or talk about dementia, Alzheimer’s, losing one’s mind? Yet it is the “third great fear” in Buddhist teaching, so clearly the ancient Buddhists wanted to talk about it. They knew that the best way to transform and dissolve fear is to face it. Well, today [...]
Archive for December, 2009
The Gift of Human Birth
Posted in Gratitude, tagged Aging and Buddhism, aging and gratitude, human birth on December 19, 2009 | 11 Comments »
My theme the last few posts has been the “five great fears”—fear of death, fear of illness, fear of dementia, fear of loss of livelihood, and fear of public speaking. This week I’d like to take a break from talking about fears, and talk instead about gifts—in particular, the gift of human birth.
Why Illness Happens
Posted in Illness, tagged aging and gratitude, Illness as gift, zen and gratitude on December 12, 2009 | 16 Comments »
When I had cancer, and again when I was recovering from encephalitis, people would ask, “Do they know what caused it?” I found this rather interesting, that people were so concerned to find a reason. I wasn’t concerned about the reason at all, I was concerned about getting well. But people wanted to know. I [...]
The Gifts of Illness
Posted in Gratitude, Illness, tagged Aging and Buddhism, aging and gratitude, Illness as gift on December 6, 2009 | 9 Comments »
Fear of illness is universal, even more so as we age and wonder about heart attack, stroke, cancer. Even an annual physical or a blood test can make the heart pound. I don’t know if we are more or less fearful now that we have the miracles of medicine to help us. In earlier times, [...]
Books
Aging As A Spiritual Practice
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Indiebound
Books a Million
Itunes
Work As A Spiritual Practice
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Healing Lazarus
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
A Whole Life's Work
Amazon
Barnes and Noble-
