Let it go already

My father died tomorrow on a day just like today. I gave him CPR with my compadre. She ventilated and I did the compressions. 1993. It felt invasive, weirdly intimate. I never got that close to him. This was unfamiliar territory in every way. Touching him? Pressing on his heart with all my might? Calling…

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Mindful Manic

“The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path I walk in peace. With each step, a gentle wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.” Thich Nhat  Hanh   “Get Thee to a nunnery”, I heard the voice say. I answered, ok. Where is the nearest nunnery following the Thich…

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De nada

  I admit it. I went into a foreign land, about to immerse in a new culture on my own only knowing two words in Spanish; hello and thank you. Not pretty. And its shocking how far those two simple words can bring a person into this rather friendly universe and into a small sea…

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What are you enlightened to?

My fascination with freedom became most palpable after spending time this past year with the inmates at Maine Correctional Center located 44 miles from the place I call home. I shared tools with the men and women that call MCC their home. It feels right and kind to share tools that have brought me great…

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Leave everything you know behind…

Lay yourself on the slab of openness and wait for the knife of my beauty to gash you so deep with the Beloved’s radiance that you can never recover. —Rumi TILICHO LAKE In this high place it is as simple as this, leave everything you know behind. Step toward the cold surface, say the old…

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Who Am I?

I am Jen, female, 46.7 years old, white. I am a partner, sister, daughter, aunt, God mother, niece, cousin. I am an ex. I am the last of nine children. I am a friend, community member, teacher, guide, facilitator, retreat leader, business owner. I am one who dabbles in writing. I am Lithuanian and French.…

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