The Practice of Your Life

The Exercise and Pursuit of a Consciously Created Life

The Practice of Making People Wrong (Not)

May 31
2009

I’m so proud of myself.  Today I came across an article explaining why it’s wasteful to “pre-wash” dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, and I DID NOT send it out to anyone. 

Why is that noteworthy?  Because I realized that my sending it out was my way of being right about and making the Pre-Washers I can think of; wrong.

As part of living life as a practice one of the practices I’ve adopted is the practice of observing and noticing things especially about myself.  I’ve come to notice the tell tale signs of resistance in my body: feeling tense, rigid, my breathing becoming shallow, my mood becoming irritated, my body language closed, often accompanied by an urge to speak out.  Almost every time I

The Hug – the killer app of acknowledgments

May 23
2009

This is an excerpt from my upcoming book on “The Practice of Acknowledgments”. 

Hugs are to acknowledgments what wireless is to the internet.  Nothing quite says I see you and your being around means a lot to me than a hug.  As part of the human need to belong, to be acknowledged, we all need to be touched.  (Sniff.  Just hold me.) 

I don’t recommend this in the paranoid and litigious American workplace environment, but among your friends and loved ones, hug EVERYBODY. 

Hugs come in all configurations and intensities.  I differentiate between the hugger – the person initiating the hug – and the huggee – the person being hugged. Here are a few common ones:

The overhand where the hugger comes

Help Me

May 13
2009

Imagine you’re the proud Father or Mother of the cutest three year old boy who barely talks, and one day as you’re walking through the mall the little darling starts screaming, “Help me, help me,” to anyone that looks in his direction. 

 My mother related this true story to me the other day about a friend of hers who lived this – not-so-funny to her – true account with her young son.    Not-so-funny to her, but absolutely hilarious to me.  Maybe it’s the way my mom tells this story, as she imitates a young child’s voice, but whether its her or the story I laugh till I cry when she tells it.

Can you imagine this little kid?  He would do it whenever he had the… Continue reading

Mexican Music

May 08
2009

I’m standing in the subway heading to mid-town Manhattan.  Train is crowded and at a stop I become aware of two short guys wearing cowboy hats, one with a guitar and the other with an accordion get on.   I’ve seen this before, these guys work the trains for money.  They play about sixty seconds of a song (what I think is Mexican music), they stop and then walk the subway car hat-in-hand asking for money.  They then leave the car and move to another at the next stop.  They’re self-employed.  (smile)

As I continue reading my magazine I notice myself feeling a little annoyed at this.  There was a kind of silence in the subway car, as silent as you can get in a subway car, and these