I used to have a neighbor who would yell at her young children a lot. I would listen to her voice reverberating through the thin walls of our building and vow that if I ever had kids, I would never do that. Plain and simple. Fast forward a decade plus and – well, you can guess where this is going!

Tags: awareness, being present, hope, mortality, presence, reflection, Sharon Salzberg, Sogyal Rinpoche, Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

My friend Ibrahima does not know which day or year he was born. He came into this world in Guinea, West Africa, where his native language N’Ko had no written form until very recently. To obtain a passport, he had to approximate how old he was and select a day that felt right to him.

Tags: awareness, being present, birthday, contemplation, gratitude, mindfulness, presence, reflection, relationships, wisdom