The Practice of Your Life

The Exercise and Pursuit of a Consciously Created Life

Breakthrough in being with another’s POV

Oct 17
2008

The other day I was having a drink with a good friend of mine and he began to relate his impression of one of the political candidates in the upcoming election.  To say that his view was completely at odds with my own is to put it mildly.  What was really interesting though was that I noticed the initial feeling that got triggered by his words. The feeling that came up was anger, or more like an extreme irritation and it was completely reactive.  The thoughts that immediately popped up were your garden variety of “How could you be so stupid?, “Can’t you see how you’re being manipulated?”, “My God, you’re talking about a candidate for the top office …”

And then a miracle happened!

I let it… Continue reading

Embrace Your Big Fat Ass

Jun 19
2008

You heard me! It’s big, it’s round, it’s talked about, it’s yours. So learn to love it.

Would like to say this is a quote from “Embracing Your Big Fat Ass: An Owner’s Manual,” but I haven’t read it … yet. Actually I probably won’t but it is possible. While big fat asses are not high on my issues list, the book is well written and funny. How do I know that? Well, the authors (Laura Banks and Janette Barber) read excerpts to the biggest audience at a Barnes and Noble book signing short of a Harry Potter release. And they had the audience rolling.

I knew I was in for a good time when my good friend Donna Moore

Who is this person I’m in a relationship with?

Jun 09
2008

I’m a big fan of the movie Crash because it did an excellent job of illustrating this point:the greatest good and the greatest evil lies within us all. What got me writing about it now is a couple that I know that is going through a rocky period. I’m not going to describe details … suffice to say that it has a very familiar story line and it got me thinking of a common relationship story. They mostly follow a set path: excitement, everything fits/works, you have so much in common, you look at stuff the same way, until one day …. something happens and it’s clear that this person is not who you thought they were. How could that be? How could you have been so mistaken?

I think for… Continue reading

Getting even

May 21
2008

I am a big proponent of “letting go,” as an essential practice in living my life (as a practice). That’s a very challenging thing to do when you grow up in a world that teaches you that there are people who are bad and wrong, and where there is no distinction between the behavior and the person exhibiting the behavior.

Do a bad thing? Then you’re a bad person.

One example of letting go vs. getting even that comes to mind is of a person I contracted with for considerable expense (at least for me) to do a job. I paid all of the money (not smart in hindsight) even with the job not completed, and from the moment the last payment was received the level of service… Continue reading