Ah, Black Friday. The most ironic holiday of the year! Shopping list in hand, sharp elbows at the ready — this is the day we beat back our fellow man in the quest for that perfect holiday gift for our loved ones. Coming at the heels of Thanksgiving, it’s...
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Tags: Black Friday, family, friendship, holiday, National Day of Listening, stories, story, StoryCorps, Studs Terkel, Thanksgiving
Bright and early this morning, my 8-year-old son and I walked over the Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn for our annual NYC Marathon ritual. This fall rite involves hot chocolate for him and a cappuccino for me as we stake our positions in a patch of sunlight near the 11th...
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Tags: Achilles, family, Geoffrey Mutai, happiness, ING, inspiration, Krige Schabort, life, Masazumi Soejima, meaning, New York Marathon, NYC Marathon, Sketchers, Tatyana McFadden, wheelchair, wisdom
I picked up a canvas with Banksy's beat up Buddha and wondered what the kids would make of it. So I plunked down 25 pounds and bought it. The first thing I did when I got home was pound a nail into the empty wall...
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Tags: art, Banksy, being present, Buddhism, family, journey, London, reflection, wisdom, Zen
On this 40th anniversary of Earth Day, I’m writing to you from what I consider to be an extraordinary slice of paradise… the cheerful park right next to our apartment complex that used to be called “the ugliest park in Manhattan.” Less than one year ago, Luther Gulick...
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Tags: Earth Day, family, gratitude, Lower East Side, Manhattan, wisdom
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...
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Tags: awareness, being present, hope, mortality, presence, reflection, Sharon Salzberg, Sogyal Rinpoche, Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
"How was Turkey?" kind friends and family have been asking. After being home for a couple of days, the only way I can think to describe it is as Lakshman says of his life in the Ramayana, "It's like something I dreamed once, long ago, far away."...
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Tags: Coleman Barks, gratitude, Istanbul, journey, mortality, One Year to Live, Orhan Pamuk, Rumi, Sufi, Turkey
I spent the past couple of days noting how often my children laugh. They’re awesome at it (most of the time). Giggles turn into cracking up, which turns into unstoppable belly laughs. And just when you think they’re done, it starts all over again. ...
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Tags: awareness, being present, belonging, comedy, connection, family, gratitude, hope, humor, laughter, mortality, parenting, relationships, smile