Archive for the Buddhism category

Passion, practice and the water table of talent.

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

When I wrote ‘your passion is not enough’ I knew I was beginning to say something, not finishing. I was opening a conversation with myself and with you. Today I was walking home from a visit with a friend, listening to Zen Howl, by Natalie Goldberg. Natalie said, “Talent is like a water table under [...]

Posted in Buddhism, Letting go, Writing | 1 Comment »

Healing Family Karma – Free Call

Monday, December 5th, 2011

This morning as I was writing my daily peace-offering to the folks taking part in my 30 day long ‘Zen Peacekeeper Guide to the Holiday’ I asked: What is it about the holidays that makes them so stressful? The answer is: lots of things, probably. But I think there are two things in particular. Firstly, the [...]

Posted in Buddhism, self care | 5 Comments »

Don’t Mind Me, I’m Peacefully Engaged

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Yesterday was the day after the national election in New Zealand and I woke up thinking about the challenge of being at once fully engaged in the efforts to build a more just, equitable and compassionate world while maintaining my inner equilibrium and a sense of peace. I know I’m not alone in this challenge. [...]

Posted in Being the change, Buddhism, Doing good, Service | No Comments »

50 Ways to Leave Your Karma – Eric Klein

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

One of the people I’ve been most excited to ‘discover’ this year is Eric Klein. Eric is a teacher, author and wise one. He founded Dharma Consulting to share the wisdom and leadership skills he has learned from four decades of spiritual practice with new and established leaders in Fortune 500 companies, healthcare, municipal, governmental [...]

Posted in Buddhism, Good things | No Comments »

So I’m not as funny as Elizabeth Gilbert…

Friday, September 9th, 2011

I got an email from my agent this morning summarising the rejection responses she’s had to my manuscript so far. Here’s something you should know about writing a memoir, in case you think it might be a fun thing to do: when editors ‘pass’ on your book they are going to say not-so-great things not [...]

Posted in Buddhism, Writing | 33 Comments »

On savoring and serving: my curly questions for Jen Louden

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

Yesterday I was over at Savor & Serve – Jen Louden’s awesome space. She asked me questions about what savoring and serving looks like for me. And today she’s here – answering some of mine! Click here to read yesterday’s start to this conversation. What first tipped you off to the connection between savoring and [...]

Posted in Buddhism, self care, Service | 5 Comments »

What’s your foundation? The short and the long version.

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

Last week I got an email from a friend, someone who I met through my 30 Days of Yoga course and for whom I have a lot of respect. She wrote “In your last email you talked about struggling to believe that you are enough without saving the world and ending suffering. I am really [...]

Posted in Buddhism, Sitting still, Yoga | 28 Comments »

The Wisdom of a Broken Heart

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

At the most painful, confusing time of my life – in those months after the killings in Afghanistan that I referred to in my last post – I found the teachings of Pema Chodron who gently encouraged me to relax and lean in towards my own heartbreak, seeing it as a state of presence and [...]

Tags: eqnz, healing, loss, meditation, recovery, trauma
Posted in Buddhism, Letting go, Sitting still | 4 Comments »

Live the life you haven’t imagined

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

The wonderful Helen Heath published an interview this week with New Zealand’s best loved literary couple, Elizabeth Knox and Fergus Barrowman. Of course, Elizabeth, the author, is loved with less conditions than than Fergus, the publisher. That appears to be the fate of publishers. I highly recommend that you go over and read the entire [...]

Posted in Buddhism, Letting go, Writing | 3 Comments »

Zen of giving and receiving: a Buddhist take on effective aid

Friday, April 30th, 2010

The past few days there has been a lot of discussion about effective aid and good intentions. It was triggered by the plan to send one million used t-shirts to Africa. There is widespread agreement amongst international development professionals that this is not good aid. In fact, it has the potential to be quite harmful. [...]

Posted in Being the change, Buddhism, Featured Articles | 23 Comments »