I would like to pay tribute to the trees in my life. They have been stalwart supports that have served to ground and memorialize milestones in my brief existence on this planet. So often there has been a particular tree that would insist itself into my awareness each time I passed it in the course of a daily journey whether by car or on foot. For instance,
Apr 22
TREE FRIENDS I HAVE KNOWN
Feb 12
PLAYING IN THE BAND
Many years back I found myself hanging out in the mountains of Kashmir in the village of Aru. This place was situated along the pilgrimage route to Amarnath Cave where hundreds of thousands of people trek each year to receive blessings from the naturally self created Shiva Lingam. However what I wish to share with you is a different pilgrimage.
Jan 15
THE MAGIC OF PLACE (Visiting the Taj Mahal)
Places have a power that can be revealed depending on how we show up. What is required is the suspension of our usual ways of making sense of things. Rather than the grasping at information there is this invitation to allow things to come to you.
I’ve been reflecting on what should be my initial offering for the New Year. As I mulled this over I kept being nudged by a recollection of a visit I had to the Taj Mahal in Agra, India back in 1981. I had already been wandering the subcontinent of India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka for the better part of seven months.
Dec 18
CHILDHOOD LANDSCAPES REVISITED
I was recently back on, what use to be, my home turf. The holidays provided an opportunity to visit family and friends. I had the good fortune to spend time with my Mom and sleep in the house where I grew up. This afforded me the opportunity to walk around the neighborhood. I often do this when I visit but this time it was different.
Nov 27
MAKING TRANSITIONS
The very nature of journeying involves making transitions and they are always challenging. Transitions impose a discontinuity in our experiencing. Something gets disrupted in order to allow for something else to happen. And in such a disconnection we become vulnerable. This was brought home to me recently.
Nov 13
THE WORLD AS GYMNASIUM
In contrast to many travelers I didn’t ‘hit the road’ until much later in my life. Sure I had some occasional experiences traveling with family or joining some program that required some extended travel. However, my first ‘real’ forays into independent travel didn’t materialize until I decided to travel to India for initially three months. By the time I was done it was almost a full year before I returned home.
Oct 30
THE IMPROVISED JOURNEY
There is this tension between planning and allowing that occurs when we take a journey. Clearly most of us create itineraries for a trip we want to make. There are obvious reasons for this (i.e., consideration of cost, anticipated destinations that are on our bucket lists, constraints of time, who we travel with, and much more). However, I believe far too much importance is placed on this planning and that it can get in the way of what travel can offer.
Oct 16
RE-ENTRY FRICTION AND HOW TO AVOID REJECTION
Imagine spending time in outer space for an extended time and now you are making your way back home to Mother Earth. As you begin to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere your space capsule begins to experience resistance to your approach. Continuing to plummet under the force of gravity this resistance increases and your capsule heats up to the point of flaring and giving off sparks.
Oct 01
I LIKE TO WALK
When travel comes to mind most of us think of the type of transport we use to get to a destination. How often do you see depicted in posters, flyers or what not iconic images of planes, ships, railroad engines, buses and cars. The idea of being on foot is pretty low on the totem pole. And yet much of how we travel is on foot.