Tag Archives: compassion

Exercising with mom

Posted on August 13, 2012 by

After a hearty breakfast I brought and prepared, mom was given a shower by her twice a week caretaker, DF. We ladies gathered in the bathroom for the ablutions, conversing about a variety of topics including some concerns DF had … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, compassion, exercise, family | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Vaclav Havel’s high moral purpose

Posted on December 19, 2011 by

Vaclav Havel died this weekend. Playright, dissident, poet, and Czechoslovakia’s first democratically elected president,  Havel’s activisim helped to bring down the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in the Velvet Revolution of 1989. The hope and expectations for his presidency were enormous. … Continue reading →

Posted in activism, compassion, democracy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Puzzling

Posted on July 28, 2011 by

We took my mother out to lunch at her favorite Chinese restaurant for her (and her twin’s) 84th birthday. Midmeal, I asked my mother what her earliest memory was. She said it was a reporter from the Toledo News Bee who … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, compassion, family | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Thousand-armed Guan Yin

Posted on July 15, 2011 by

Guan Yin (or Kwan Yin) is the Boddhisattva of Compassion, also known as Avalokiteshvara. I actually carry a small statuette of Avalokiteshvara around with me (see post I transform and am transformed), the thousand arms carrying different tools to solve … Continue reading →

Posted in Buddha, compassion, dance, short films, videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

“…pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not control the hearts of men.”

Posted on March 13, 2011 by

Clarence Darrow died today in 1938. For the last 50 years, civil rights activists, lawyers, and labor leaders have gathered on this date to toss a wreath into the Jackson Park Lagoon from the Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge, where his … Continue reading →

Posted in activism, capital punishment, chicago, compassion, crime, labor, politics, school, social justice, Teaching, union | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tighten Up

Posted on February 9, 2011 by

Sitting with my colleague in the classroom after school today, my eyes happened to look past a pile of old materials from a previous unit, past the posterboard of a former student’s research project on corsets, and land on a green … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, compassion, school, Teaching, truth | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Enso

Posted on January 18, 2011 by

An enso is a Japanese term for circle and is part of a zen aesthetic of spiritual mindfulness and enlightenment. An enso represents the entire universe in a single stroke, done with complete mindfulness in the present moment. The fresh, … Continue reading →

Posted in art, artist, Buddha, compassion, creativity, nature, photography, sacred, transformation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Reaching for the “better angels of our nature”

Posted on January 13, 2011 by

President Obama’s speech at the Tucson Memorial Service:

Posted in centering, compassion, death, democracy, freedom of speech, peace, politics, transformation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I transform and am transformed

Posted on December 22, 2010 by

I am not superstitious. But everyday I carry this sacred bundle in a pocket or pouch. On the outside is a small Avalokiteshvara, the Boddhisattva of Compassion, who has a thousand hands. (Actually he has only 12 here, but they … Continue reading →

Posted in Buddha, compassion, sacred, transformation | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Negotiating dignity

Posted on December 11, 2010 by

My mother has Parkinson’s and her husband is presently going through treatment for prostate cancer. They are both 83. My mother has had surgery for DBS where a probe has been implanted in her brain which has greatly improved the … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, compassion, family, Parkinson's | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments