Death

I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” —J.R.R. Tolkein “The Fellowship…

My beloved yoga teacher, Jared Hirsch, begins most classes by spending a few minutes welcoming and connecting with each student who is new, and asking them about their yoga practice. Last week he called upon a woman who responded that she had practiced in the past, but not for a while since having had a…

There is a narrow outdoor porch on the second floor of my Victorian home that overlooks the street, where I love to sit and watch the world go by. Sometimes when it is hot in the summer, I will spend the night on the porch and fall asleep to the sound of the crickets.  When…

A very very dear old friend of mine is dying from pancreatic cancer. She has struggled courageously, and availed herself of all treatments, both conventional and alternative.  Fifty percent of patients with pancreatic cancer are dead within six months of diagnosis, the one year survival rate is twenty percent, and the five year survival, four…