In last week’s blog, Lessons in Loving and Grieving, I shared some beautiful poems by Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts, as well the origin story of our special friendship that blossomed during the final months of beloved wife’s life in 2010. Elliot and Tey had been married for 50 years, and it was a slow process to heal from the impact of her passing.
Read MoreToday I want to share some beautiful poems written by my friend Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts—a wise man and gifted poet whom I grew close to fourteen years ago, during the final months of his wife Tey’s life. I first met Tey when I became a Zen student at the Monterey Bay Zen Center in 1993. She warmly embraced me when I felt like an excluded outsider amidst the tightly knit group of seasoned students.
Read More“‘Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time.” This is borrowed from the wise and wonderful Debbie Millman, for it’s hard to better capture something so fundamental yet so impatiently overlooked in our culture of immediacy.” —Maria Popova’s blog, The Marginalian
Read More“We seldom realize, for example, that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society…” —Alan Watts, from The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
Read MoreLast July, I shared some powerful poems by my dear friend, Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts, in two special blogs. The array of poems I chose related directly to the stories I was telling, so there was no place for me to include one of my all-time favorites, “Solstice.”
Read MoreThis November marks ten years since I took my first writing workshop at Esalen Institute in Big Sur. It was called “Writing What You Can’t Remember,” and the exceptionally talented and insightful teacher was Laura Davis, the best-selling author of the groundbreaking book, The Courage to Heal.
Read MoreThis week, I’m happy to share an article I wrote for Spirituality & Health magazine about transforming our relationship to change that features profound insights from Diego Perez—the wise young man behind the pen name, yung pueblo, whose new book, Lighter, just debuted as #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
Read MoreWhat is intuition and where does it come from? How does it differ from gut instinct or an idea that suddenly pops into our mind? When we tap into intuition, are we tapping into wisdom from other realms? When I brought these questions to Tina Powers—the extraordinary medium who is leading our free online afterlife event tomorrow—she told me, “We are all built with an inner compass that guides us. This guidance comes through our entire body and includes all our senses of perception, not just the physical.”
Read MoreI loved my recent conversation with author Diego Perez—the writer behind the pen name yung pueblo, whose eloquent, wisdom-dense words have become an Instagram sensation. Diego now has millions of social media followers and two New York Times best-selling books. His third book, Lighter, was just released this week.
Read MoreLast week, I introduced my friend—the poet, Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts—who I met through his late wife, Tey. Elliot and I grew close during the final months of Tey’s life in early 2010, and our friendship has continued to grow ever since. Healing from the loss of his beloved wife of half a century was a slow and sorrowful process for Elliot, but eventually, after almost five years, he knew the time had come to move forward with his life.
Read MoreToday I want to share a few beautiful poems written by my dear friend, Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts, which were published in the book, White Fire. But to do them justice—to have you understand why the ones I selected touch me so deeply—requires some context. So let me take you back twenty-seven years to when I first met Elliot’s wife, Tey Roberts.
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