The Art of Disappearing – Part 2

        The Art of Disappearing by Naomi Shihab Nye When they say Don’t I know you? say no.When they invite you to the party remember what parties are like before answering.Someone telling you in a loud voice they once wrote a poem. Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate. Then reply. If they say we should get together. say why? It’s not that you don’t love them any more. You’re trying to remember...

The Art of Disappearing – Part 1

How good are you at disappearing?  Vacation used to mean getting away from it all.  Time to rest, play, relax without the worries or concerns that envelop us at home. Savoring time without a clock or agenda  feels strange when we’re used to go-go-go and do-do-do.  It usually takes me a couple of days to settle into a slower rhythm when I get away; to keep my twitchy fingers off the keypad, not check email,...

A Tip From ‘Ol Blue Eyes

A surprising gift from the year of building birdhouses is this blog about creativity.  The title “Creativity For the Rest Of Us” came to me about three years ago – the summer I got a pair of binoculars and took up bird watching in my garden. (It’s amazing the insights that come in stillness.)  I didn’t understand what the title meant at first.  It stayed with me and I played around with it from time to...

Sharing the Seeds

Last week I had the privilege of witnessing a circle of elders in a soulful conversation discussing what they are learning about life as they come face to face with death.  There is no way to capture here the sacrament of that experience.  Because it touched my heart so deeply, any story I could tell feels inadequate to describe how their words landed in me. The very dear Mary Brady counseled me once not to “spend”...

Fire

          Fire What makes a fire burn is space between the logs, a breathing space. Too much of a good thing, too many logs packed in too tight can douse the flames almost as surely as a pail of water would.   So building fires requires attention to the spaces in between, as much as to the wood.   When we are able to build open spaces in the same way we have learned to pile on the...

The Appointment

What if, on the first sunny day, on your way to work, a colorful bird sweeps in front of you down a street you’ve never heard of. You might pause and smile. A sweet beginning to your day. Or you might step into that street and realize there are many ways to work. You might sense the bird knows something you do not and wander after. You might hesitate when the bird turns down an alley. For now there is a tension: Is...

Are You Listening?

In over a decade of listening to and visually recording group conversations I’ve learned a lot about listening. In listening for the essence of someone’s thought, I’ve had lots of practice waiting. Waiting is key to being a good listener. Much of our communication comes with window dressing – the warm up, examples and embellishment, summation, repetition. Buried in all of that is a kernel, the heart of what...