About Nathan Thompson
Nathan Thompson blogs at dangerousharvests.com, which features writings about zen Buddhism, yoga, social justice and politics, the arts, and life in general.
Nathan writes: “It is difficult to summarize who I am, given that the "hats" I wear are diverse, and life itself is always changing. I have been a student of zen meditation for over eight years, and a yoga practitioner for a good part of the last decade. I am an ESL teacher, an editor of an on-line literary journal, a nearly year round bicyclist, a gardener, a non-profit board member, a political questioner, a life questioner, and sometimes a dreamer.”
The Person Who is Not Busy
Yuan Mei, like many of the great Chinese poets, exhibited many talents: working as a government official, teacher, writer, and a painter. Perhaps meditation and the teachings of Zen (Ch’an in Chinese) helped him pace himself. Maintain some sort of balance and equanimity.
But when you consider his poem, perhaps his life was overly busy like so many of us today. The longing for simplicity. For a tranquil place. The focus on nature.
The Suppression of Male Tears
I was 13 years old. As one of the pallbearers, I stood at the end of the line, watching the casket sliding from the hearse. Suddenly, I felt weak. Grief rushed through me in a way I hadn’t known before. I turned away, just at the time when I should have been reaching up. My uncle turned and screamed something nasty at me. What exactly, I don’t remember. Only that “do your job” was tagged to the end of it. I didn’t forgive him for years for that, even though it was mostly a reaction out of fear that the casket would fall.
Visiting a Dying Friend
During the visit, it was clear that Brian was fading. He tried to talk to us, but really couldn’t muster the strength to say anything coherently. I remember looking into his eyes, and saying “I miss our talks” and I’m almost sure he tried to say to me “Maybe we’ll have another.”
We never got another chance. He died Thursday.
Are You Prone to Blaming Others?
Having spent a lot of time paying attention to how people write about dating, one of the most common issues I have seen is the tendency to focus on another person’s flaws.
Using Non-Violent Communication In Your Relationships
What Rosenberg discovered working in situations where conflict was quite high and challenging was that when people spoke from a place of their feelings and perceived needs, instead of a place of judgement and evaluative criticism, not only was conflict reduced, but it became easier for everyone involved in a given situation to gain clarity about the truth.
Are the Stories We Have About Marriage Keeping up with Reality?
When I consider the landscape today – in the US anyway – those social/cultural pressures are lessened, and the romantic “love-based” model of relationships is the norm. More and more folks are also ambivalent about, or completely against, the idea of life-long marriage to a single partner. This, even as the tide is beginning to shift towards freedom for GBLTQ folks to get married.
How Do You Not Waste Your Life?
Sometimes, it feels like I’m drifting along, which my little mind associates with “wasting life.” Other times, it makes total sense. I really didn’t know what all was going in the past either; I just thought I did.
Haunted
When I came upon this tree awhile back, I couldn't help but stop and take a few pictures of it. With its bare limbs raised in the air, and almost everything around it dead as well, it's the perfect image of our repetitive, habit driven … Read more →
Are You Ready To Get Married?
Last night, I was a member of a Quaker clearness committee in support of a friend who is getting married next year. It was the first of several meetings over the course of the fall/winter, during which the group will explore issues in their … Read more →
The Zen of Conflict and Trust
The world of appearances is filled with the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. Sometimes, our closest people have betrayed us. The world as it appears in conditioned reality and ordinary life, is filled with unpredictable and … Read more →
