food, travel, art, poetry, rants and other musings
‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.’ -Maya Angelou I watched the Netflix documentary recently, featuring stories from Michelle Obama’s tour to promote her book Becoming. Both times I’ve read the book, I cried. Of course, I cried watching the documentary, as well. I believe her intention for […]
MoreIn September 2011, I traveled to Madrid on a one way ticket, alone, with a backpack of clothes, a small laptop, and some toiletries…no phone, no itinerary. I had a rough “plan”, however…I had sketched a path along the Mediterranean coast, then maybe head north, and at some point, I would go home. I had […]
MoreAs published in the Mar/Apr 2015 issue of Arbus Magazine: As of August 2014, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest civil rights organization in the United States working to achieve equality for LGBT Americans, acknowledges 200+ cities and counties across the US who prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity/ […]
MoreHere are 30 ways you can practice implementing the Fourth Agreement: Always Do Your Best into your daily life: Day 1: Begin by reading some thoughts on how to implement the Fourth Agreement. Day 2: Start by talking to yourself better. Day 3: Practice the art of having enough. Day 4: Always doing your best […]
More“Doing your best means taking action because you love it,” Ruiz starts out by saying in Part 10, “not because you expect a reward.” We all do this, most notably at work, especially if our job is not our first choice for ‘what we wanted to be when we grew up’. As householders, we are […]
More“Each time you meet an old emotional pattern with presence, your awakening to truth can deepen. There’s less identification with the self in the story and more ability to rest in the awareness that is witnessing what’s happening. You become more able to abide in compassion, to remember and trust your true home. Rather than […]
MoreTake 30-Days to challenge yourself to practice the third agreement: Don’t Make Assumptions – you’ll be surprised how often you do! 😉 Day 1: We often make assumptions when interacting with others as to what they are thinking, feeling, wanting, etc. by what they either say or do and how they act, etc. This can […]
MoreAs we truly begin to become aware of how often we make assumptions – about everything from why someone cut us off in traffic, to why our spouse may have left without kissing us goodbye this morning, or how we correlate someone’s physical appearance to their level of trustworthiness (or level of intellect) – it […]
MoreHow many assumptions do you make in a day? Do you know? I am not sure that I know how many I make. Even though I have been working on implementing the Third Agreement into my daily life for a few years now, I can honestly agree with Ruiz, in Part 9, when he says […]
MoreThe second agreement is by far the most challenging, I think. Practicing it for 30 Days was the best way to make it a habit. Here are some tips, inspirations, or motivators to stay on track….. Day 1: Read the recap of the beginning of my practice two years ago….Don’t Take Anything Personally Day 2: […]
MoreThe more I practice each of the Four Agreements, the more I seem to expect that others will do the same. The most common pitfall of the ego is to experience brief moments of delusions of grandeur – it gets you into real trouble with reality. Sometimes, I think that by conducting myself in a […]
MoreWe often wonder why people lie to us and are deeply wounded when they do. We cause ourselves needless suffering by constantly believing that everything people do is somehow about us. This leads us immediately into the third agreement: Don’t Make Assumptions as I have found the second and third agreement are closely tied to one […]
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