It’s very ironic, and somewhat sad, that in my entire post about my “center”-the feline rescue I volunteer at-I forgot to mention one thing, the most important thing about my time there.

Love.And it’s appropriate to focus on this during Lent, even though as a Quaker I’m not “supposed” to celebrate Lent. But I do, because I was raised Catholic, and ( Read more... )

I just sent the following email to my Congressman. Somehow I doubt he'll actually reply, but this needed to be said.

Dear Mr. Harris,

In response to my email stating that I do not support HR 3, you stated:

"I feel that taxpayers who believe abortion is wrong should not have their federal tax dollars used to pay for abortions."
As a Quaker and a ( Read more... )

The discussion I posted about a few weeks ago ( http://www.quakerquaker.org/forum/topics/buddhist-quakers ) has actually taken a turn in the right direction. I'm being asked honest, thoughtful questions about my dual affiliation, questions that are asked out of ( Read more... )

On Wednesday night, I participated in a ceremony, accompanied by my parents, members of the local sangha/meditation group, my husband, and a friend, to formally take my Buddhist Refuge, Bodhisattva, and Precept vows. During the ceremony, I was given the dharma name Tenzing Chödrön, which means "truth light holder of the teachings". The ceremony was ( Read more... )

#1, at 100%:

( Read more... )

On Wednesday night, I attended a meditation group in Easton (30 minutes away). The leader of this group is connected with Insight Buddhism, which is a Theravadan Buddhist organization. I don't consider myself a Theravadan Buddhist (I lean more towards Tibetan Buddhism and Choygam Trungpa's Shambhala Buddhism in particular), but I thought it'd be ( Read more... )

I walked into the entry corridor of a large, tall building (think Boston Science Museum, if you're ever been there). As I walked, I noticed how light I felt and that I was almost floating off of the ground. "Like being in water," I thought. And I remembered that there was a swimming pool on top of this corridor and wondered if I could swim up to it ( Read more... )

One of these days I'll be compassionate enough to hear something like "I can't believe I'll never be a runner again" and not immediately think "At least she knows what it feels like to have been a runner". Or at least to not respond with "I'm sorry to hear that, but I've never been a runner and never will be."

But I'm not there yet.

In February, a Friend at Meeting came to me for help with reading the Bible. Since my driving is limited and she's half an hour away, this is what I came up with: Each week, we'd read a part of the Bible from Monday to Wednesday and then discuss it online, via email, from Thursday to Saturday, and meet once a month in person. Apparently, the other ( Read more... )

Drove past a hitchhiker, didn't stop to pick him up. I know there are tons of safety reasons not to do that, especially for a woman alone in a car who's physically incapable of defending herself, but what it boils down to is that I didn't help someone who needed help. I drove right by ( Read more... )