I don’t care what anyone says, it is not possible to multitask! When I first bit down hard on the inside of my lip while eating I hardly noticed. I was absorbed in some other task at the same time. But when it kept happening the pain called to me and I had to pay [...]
I hate riding my bike over the George Washington Bridge. Yet I do it every weekend at least once and often twice. I do it because once I get over the bridge and onto the other side, well after 10 or 15 more minutes of not so pleasant riding, I reach the wide shoulder on [...]
My 90-in-90—days of writing in that many days—is already 5 days old. I’ve established a routine: so far so good. Soyen Shaku’s heart burned for his daily meditation practice, as mine does for my daily writing practice. Like him: ‘Upon awakening, I leave my bed behind me instantly as if I had cast away a [...]
I’ve published my first novel—hooray for me! And I’m halfway through writing the second one. Again, hooray for me! It only took six published non-fiction books and too many years to assign an actual number to—who’s to know when I had my first inkling that I wanted to be a writer?—to finally settle into writing [...]
Sort of. Not really. If it were, I’d be doing more of it. But, there’s always something else to do. Yesterday, someone said that writing gets harder the longer you do it. I think he might be right. I keep thinking that if I did it more, every day, were more disciplined about it (at [...]
I'm about ready to push the button to let the world know that I've published my first novel! Gulp! Murder in a Zen Buddhist Monastery! Not much to say except that I hope you love it and can't wait for the second book in the series that I can't wait to get back to writing. [...]
Trust in yourself and your feelings: the 4th essential of mindfulness practice. My Monday night group and I will be sitting with this for the next week. I have a long way to go with this practice. I sit here right now afraid to write all that is in my head. Afraid to share it [...]
Some years ago, I fired my literary agent. She had successfully shepherded my six non-fiction books to publication and I am grateful to her for that. I replaced her with another agent because he “loved” my Zen mystery novel, One Hand Killing. He thought that fiction writing was the direction my career should take and, [...]
Just lately I realized that I’ve lost my way in my meditation practice. I still get to my cushion most days, but the joy that was once my regular companion is often missing. And I think I finally know why. Since starting my practice 23 years ago it has felt as if my seat, my [...]
A couple of weeks ago I brought a student to this zendo for the first time. At the end of the evening she said: “Next time will be better; I’ll know what to do.” And I said: NO NO NO NO NO – the mind that you came here with tonight is the one you [...]
