Awaken Engage

One night, one of my teachers and I sat on a bridge above a river. We watched thoughts coming and going. All through the night. As the thoughts came and drifted closer and became clearer, my teacher would say, "Well, are you going to go for a ride on this one? Or let it pass you by?” Once in awhile I would jump off the bridge and go for a ride on a thought. He would come with me and laugh, and say...

Akin to the ideas of relax/release and noticing the opening/closing of the heart, the pause that refreshes is a staple of recovery and continual healing. It’s a simple concept, but not an easy practice. Tonight was my son’s final performance in their high school musical “Mean Girls.” I had been to all the performances thus far and we have had a full house and full schedules. By late afternoon, I c...

15 minute writing timer. Ready. Set. Go. “Just as a desire leaps up, And you perceive the flash, the sparkle, Quit from its play, And maintain awareness In that clear and shining place From which all desire springs.” (Radiance Sutras, p. 108) At the beginning of January, I didn’t set any resolutions, but I decided to begin doing things that required will power, to actually do them, and to do them...

15 minute writing timer. Ready. Set. Go. There were few things more important in my recovery than the handpan and to say that I went down the handpan rabbit hole would be a gross understatement. I’ve chronicled that story before, though, and you can catch a wonderful version of it on The Handpan Podcast with Sylvain Paslier. That podcast episode is actually how I know a number of you! Since late O...

15 minute writing timer. Ready. Set. Go. After several years of dreaming and planning, last Spring I created a mindfulness meditation course called “Peace and Well-Being in an Age of Anxiety.” Boise State University gave me the opportunity to teach this course during the Fall 2023 semester and again this semester. There has been a high-level of interest and engagement in the course, so it is also...

15 minute writing timer. Ready. Set. Go. “At the end of the exhale, Breath surrenders to quietude. For a moment you hang in the balance — Suspended In the fertile spaciousness That is the source of breath. At the end of the inhale, Filled with the song of the breath, There is a moment when you are simply Holding the tender mystery. In these interludes, Experience opens into exquisite vastness With...

15 minute writing timer. Ready. Set. Go. Several years ago, I was in the middle of a social media sabbatical and one of my trusted teachers and friends said, “Dave, the world needs to hear your voice. I know you’re taking some time off. But, be willing when you are ready.” In many ways, I had grown tired of the story and stories I was telling. I was detoxing a bit, I think. And I was battling the...

15 minute writing timer. Ready. Set. Go. I remember hearing that William Faulkner played Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” over and over and over while he wrote As I Lay Dying. I don’t know if it’s true, but I remember hearing it. And it really doesn’t matter much to me if it is true because the point that was being made by the person sharing the information was this: there is a rhythm to writing. And...

15 minute writing timer. Ready. Set. Go. The photographer and traveler have this in common: they are constantly aware of what they are seeing. The photographer is watching, noticing the same view from many angles, noticing objects against foreground and background, and keenly aware that no two moments are exactly alike. The traveler is expecting to see things that they have never seen, experience...

15 minute writing timer. Ready. Set. Go. Stand back. Fall behind the experience. Let go. 
Stay open. Just don’t close. Watch the mind. Relax and release. Let it be. Let it go. Let it in. I step out of reactivity and allow myself to accept and feel what is in my body; I embrace what is present. 
Breathing in, I calm myself; breathing out, I smile. I am at peace with myself as I am and with the worl...

15 minute writing timer. Ready. Set. Go. You carry All the ingredients To turn your life into a nightmare — Don’t mix them! You have all the genius To build a swing in your backyard For God. That sounds Like a hell of a lot more fun. Let’s start laughing, drawing blueprints, Gathering our talented friends. I will help you With my divine lyre and drum. Hafiz Will sing a thousand words You can take...

I Feel Ya (14) 15 minute timer. Ready. Set. Go. The senses declare an outrageous world — Sounds and scents, ravishing colors and shapes, Ever-changing skies, iridescent reflections — All these beautiful surfaces Decorating vibrant emptiness. The god of love is courting you, Light as a feather. Every perception is an invitation into revelation. Hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching — Ways of...

15 minute writing timer. Ready. Set. Go. Know when to say “when.” Be aware of your limits. Tap out. Tonight, I’m on the edge of tapping out and just going to bed. But, I’m also unsure that I really need to, so I’ll use my go-to inquiry for times like these: “Do I have what it takes continue, right now?” How about now? And, now? How about now? It’s a simple inquiry. Riding a 100+ mile bike race off...

Being With What Comes Next (12) 15 minute writing timer. Set…Go. “Do all that you can, with all that you have, in the time that you have, in the place where you are.” Nkosi Johnson How can we abide in restful presence in the present and also take the future into consideration, particularly when it requires some level of planning and preparation? And, how can we reside in that peaceful, centered aw...

15 minute writing timer. Set. Go… “Take a step back.” This is a fascinating idiom in our common vernacular. We associate it with getting a bit of distance from what is right in front of your face, what is consuming your focus, what is grabbing you, what is connected to your reactivity, and so on. I’ve been working with this idea for quite some time as part of my practice and I enjoy experimenting...

15-minute-writing timer. Set. Go. When I was younger, I was impressed with track records in events like the 100 meters, high jump, triple jump, long jump, etc. Fast. High. Long. Quick. I wouldn’t have been able to tell you even the rough range of a great time for finishing a marathon. I didn’t like watching marathons. Nowadays, I pay a lot more attention to the records and feats and achievements a...

15 minute writing timer set…and…go…. “I would gladly take this from you if I could.” I remember hearing these words from my mom and dad and even my grandparents while growing up. They would say them when I was sick or going through a hard time. And I remember thinking that they were nuts. Why would they want to take away my pain? Even if I questioned their sanity, it was a window into a deep love...

15 minutes writing timer is set. And…Start… “Soul would have us go where we fear to go in order to learn who we are intended to be.” (Michael Meade) Fear is a thing. An object. Some thing that is perceived. As a thing, it comes and goes. It has a life span. We notice it coming, we notice it when it is in front of us, we notice it when it is in our bodies, we notice it when it is occupying our mind...

Writing and publishing a public-facing exhibit and podcast is more of a challenge than getting in a tub of icebergs. A little known way to completely quiet the mind of all sensical and meaningful content is to decide that you must write some of that content every day and share it. Thoughts be gone. I’m now setting a writing timer for 15 minutes to up the ante here. I now have 14:22 left. I began t...

As I write today, my mind is quiet and still, like a placid lake on an early summer morning right before the sunrise. Very still. Very quiet. Smooth. Indistinct. Undisturbed. Gentle. Calm. At ease. There’s not much to say. It’s quiet in here today. Very quiet. Very still. Smooth. Indistinct. Spacious. Open.  Like a pebble plopping, a thought drops.   And is immersed and surrounded by spacious, qui...

Why did I decide to do this 30-day writing/podcasting challenge? I don’t completely and clearly remember…and it’s only day 5. What I do recall is that I was looking for another challenge to meet Andrew Huberman’s criteria for optimizing growth and not calcifying by thinking we have “arrived” at something that is permanent in a world of impermanence. The criteria: 1) the challenge has to be somethi...

Last night, I met a spotted tiger. He was in the bushes down the hill where my basketball had rolled. I was late for the triple jump competition on the other side of the hill and was in quite a hurry to gather my ball which was bouncing farther and farther away. By the time I saw the tiger he was already seeing me. His head made a slow movement in my direction and in a short moment he had covered...

One of my intentions over the past few years has been along the lines of “I accept myself as I am and the world as it is. I am at peace with myself as I am and the world as it is.” Embedded somewhere in this intention is the idea of taking myself less seriously, accepting my imperfections, and coming to terms with my shortcomings. In a yoga nidra certification training several years ago, my teache...

I forgot about this part when I began this new project of writing and publishing each day.  The first time I was aware of what we might call the ever-present-constantly-talking narrator, I was in my pre-teens and on a long-haul trip with my uncle Mike, an audiobook-loving truck driver affectionately known as “Tigger.” I had never listened to an audiobook before and as we made our way across hundre...

The Ice Bath Meditations Series is over, even if the daily ice baths continue. So, I’ve been on the lookout for the next challenge. I quite like the month-long-commitment idea and this month I’m challenging myself to script a 3-5 minute musing each day, post it here, and publish it to my podcast. The difficulty is as much in keeping it short and concise as it is doing it daily. Another challenging...