Hello Kindred Spirit! When my youngest daughter was about eight years old, she used to place her hands on her slightly rounded belly and say, “I love my belly.” I used to marvel at this innocent expression of appreciation for her body exactly as it was. At the time, I recoiled at my own slightly rounded belly, desiring instead the sleek, flat, preferably ripped abs on the covers of grocery store magazines. Now, in my sixties, I appreciate that having such light-hearted affection for our...

The moment I arrived at the retreat center and settled into silence, something unexpected happened. On day one, instead of emptying my mind into a serene pool of nothingness, I was ambushed by a slew of creative ideas — including a very insistent vision of a Christmas play! I had intended to practice letting go of thoughts. However, what I noticed is that presence (with perhaps a bemused detachment) also creates space for whatever wants to bubble up. Doing Nothing, Seeking Nothing One of the...

Hello Kindred Spirit! The Fortress of My Mind Many years ago, I noticed a fortress in my mind—a place both protective and confining. I first wrote about it in a poem in my early book More: Journey to Mystical Union through the Sacred and the Profane, in a chapter called A Sexual Road Less Traveled. It was about fertile, uncharted territory—the ways our bodies can respond to things our minds balk at, and the courage it takes to explore them. For me, the fortress appeared whenever my mind...