There is nothing like 3 days at a monastery for making you appreciate the comforts of home. Even the simplest things suddenly take on a new depth and sheen like having more than one light bulb in a room, a comfy mattress, an indoor bathroom and wifi. But this experience has also profoundly effected me…
Day 2 – The Monastery
I am hoe-ing my way to salvation. That’s a joke Brother Francis, the head gardener here would appreciate. The monks are quite a chatty bunch (so much for the silence). Honestly I am quite pleased. They laugh a lot too and are very fond of jokes. Every day guests are invited to do 3-4 hours…
Time and Space
Lucie – The older I get the more time seems to have a mind of its own – days expand into what feels like a week, years collapse into nothing. The years wash some friends away, but leave others standing rock solid no matter how long the absence. I haven’t seen my college friend Dave…
Day 1: Christ in the Desert Monastery
Thank god for Laura’s iPhone. Not because I am itching to surf the net or make calls here at the monastery, but because it has a flashlight. The Christ in the Desert Monastery is in a very remote part of New Mexico. It sits alone in the middle of a vast mesa with 600-800 foot…
Georgia O’Keeffe
Is strong black tea is the secret of longevity? My friend ceramic designer Eva Zeisel, who lived to be 105, thought nothing of adding 5 teabags to a pot of tea. It was so strong it could dye your teeth black on contact. On a tour of Georgia O’Keeffe’s house in Abiquiu, the guide pointed…
Madonna Badger
I can’t think of a braver soul than Madonna Badger, who lost all three of her children and both parents in a fire at her home in Connecticut three years ago. Here she is talking to Oprah on last weekend’s Super Soul Sunday (surely Oprah’s best work) about connecting with departed loved ones (like Oprah’s…
Happy Birthday Laura
Laura would have been 60 today. She was born October 29, 1954. Anyone who knew Laura knew she was special. But Sue Frederick, author of Bridges to Heaven, recently explained how unique she was. According to Sue, Laura was a rare and beautiful 22. Probably that means about as much to you as it did…
The Light Within
To steer by the light of the heart is the only choice for me now. It is both exhilarating and terrifying. To let go of thinking my way forward and instead find the path by what feels right, what resonates within. It is what got me here to Sedona. It is the motor that drives…
Think Pink!
Sometimes my life feels like an episode of The Twilight Zone. Twice in the last 4 months my digital camera has picked up a pink streak on the path in front of me. It happened first in Avebury and then this week in Sedona.The first pink flash was a little freaky. It felt like I…
Vortex – fake or fabulous?
‘If you want to see a vortex just flush the toilet,’ joked John at dinner last night. John and Heather own the sweet little house in the Coffee Pot district that I’m renting. Like most Sedona locals, they are suspicious of all the talk about vortices. Ask a local for vortex directions and they will…
Soul Love Forever 