Last week I went to a screening of the film Griefwalker, a National Film Board documentary featuring the work and words of Stephen Jenkinson. I’ve heard him speak to crowds of grief hungry people on living well and dying well. The other night he offered us a riddle posed to him by a medicine man … Who dies?
Learning Life
For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to learn to play the cello. There’s something about that instrument that ravishes me every time I hear it. I feel it first in my belly as its notes swell with passion, then it traverses the length of my body as if I were being played by the master as well.
Blind Ambition
Reading Annie Dillard’s “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” and “The Writing Life” have been epiphanies and deep hard lessons in the way of words. There have also been eye opening revelations of how little we really see through these two eyes of ours.
Awakening Gratitude
‘On the tender cusp of winter and spring, gratitude shares its voice.’ ~ Author, Tess Wixted, shares her thoughts on winter, spring, and gratitude in all its forms.
Why I Love Canada
Having arrived in Canada as a landed immigrant four years ago, Author Tess Wixted reflects on the gifts she’s found in her new country, her new home.
To Call Or Not To Call
Deciding to give up my handheld companion while basking in the glow of nibbana turned out to be quite different from the reality of pulling the plug once I returned home. I entered the stages of grief. I’d done the denial circuit for quite awhile before I went on retreat.
Carry On
“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.” ~ Og Mandino … A year ago this week a pall of grief descended upon Japan. Its dark fingers stretched from Sendai to Tohoku, Minamisoma to Fukushima and the grief is still palpable.
The Body Electric
Growing up female in North America you get the sense from a very early age that you’ll never quite measure up. Your hips will be too large or your breasts too small. Your IQ will take second place to your dress size. I count myself among the body mercenaries. From dieting to bulimia, monthly cellulite inspections and wrinkle checks, living in this female form can feel like internment at times. A couple of months ago I escaped from my barbed wire mind and moved into the mansion of my body.
Pucker Up Canada!
It’s Valentine’s Day. Love and lust are warming the air with lilts of dark chocolate and whispers of expensive champagne. Can kissing be very far behind? Today is the launch day of the Canada Kiss Map, an inspired creation of writer, creative process facilitator, and my friend, Chris Fraser. As big brilliant ideas often begin, […]
Being Human
Watching Being in the World, a small film about some pretty big ideas, opened my eyes to the state of philosophy in the 21st century. It had everything from Plato to Creole cooking, Heidegger to juggling. Modern day philosophers weighed in on the age old question of the meaning of life as well as what […]