Bird Droppings January 29, 2016 Selecting your pallet I wrote the basics of this article nearly twelve years ago and at the time was thinking of an artist friend who was trying to define her art as well as searching for her own meaning in life. My friend often reflects her political views and emotions…

Bird Droppings January 29, 2016 All in words we find “The farmer channels water to his land. The fletcher whittles his arrows. And the carpenter turns his wood. So the wise direct their mind.” Dhammapada Many years ago there was a folk song entitled, If I were a carpenter, as I read this passage this…

Bird Droppings January 26, 2016 Reconciliation of trust “It’s the examination of conscience. Unless you examine your conscience, you don’t know what you have to be sorry for and what to confess” Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M., S.T.D., Ten Tips for Better Confessions, The Gift of Reconciliation Sort of difficult ending this shortened week with a vocabulary…

Bird Droppings January 25, 2016 Sitting thinking of a circle I missed the last rerun of a favorite miniseries, Into the West, and one of these days will find the DVD set. The movie starts and ends with a circle of stones with a line going east to west and one going north to south…

Bird Droppings January 22, 2016 How do we know if we are still human? Perhaps it is from growing up in a situation where we were daily aware of special needs children and adults from the birth of my younger brother till his passing almost eighteen years ago. Those in my family have had connections…

Bird Droppings January 21, 2016 Counting knuckles On Friday a student asked what day of the month next Friday would be and I responded January 30 and just as quick another said he thought it was the first. I said no it was the thirty first and he proceeded to count his knuckles, “a knuckle…

Bird Droppings January 20, 2016 A wondering of the moment Nearly eleven years ago I received this email from a dear friend. I met Frances Friedman when I was a new staff member at Loganville High School in 2001. Frances had been teaching English and had worked with our then principal at the time at…

Bird Droppings January 19, 2016 Are you at the center of your universe? “Tung-shan was asked, ‘The normal mind is the way; what is the normal mind?’ He replied, ’Not picking things up along the road.’” From Teachings of Zen, edited by Thomas Cleary, © 1998 One aspect of the Zen teachings is the process…

Bird Droppings January 18, 2016 We are neither wolf nor dog It has been some time since I first read a book by this name written by one of my favorite authors Kent Nerburn. In much of his writing Kent Nerburn addresses the spiritual significance and depth of life of our Native Peoples. While to…

Bird Droppings January 15, 2016 Looking in the direction to start the morning “Beginnings start in the east – from where the sun rises we begin a new dawn. Each day is a good new day with a fresh beginning, a new start. East is the direction of the physical body and newness including children…