On our home page, we profess John O’Donohue’s truth, “Prayer is the presence that holds harmony in the midst of chaos. Every time you pray, you add to the light and harmony of creation. If you do not pray, if you do not believe in prayer, then you are living off the prayers of other …
Category Archives: Mind
Feeling Fit
I feel my best when I engage in regular exercise. Excepting my college years as a varsity athlete – of course in those days at the Air Force Academy one did not have to be a varsity athlete to exercise regularly – I have never been more fit than during the last ten years when …
Thanksgiving
Today is a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. We should celebrate Thanksgiving Day every day. I believe we are a culture that takes too many good things for granted. Don’t be counted among those churlish souls who fail to be thankful, who think that life …
The Journey Continues
Much has happened in my life since I last posted nearly a month ago… In the final days of October, we re-evaluated our decision to build a home on rural acreage in Wisconsin. The 4-month experience of living minimally ‘off the map’ has been invaluable, but progress on the house was very slow. When you …
What Will You Do When It’s Cold?
As Autumn ushers in colder winds from Canada, friends and acquaintances ask me – as I continue my sabbatical in a 10×16 shed with best friend Clarence – “What will you do when it’s cold?” I appreciate their concern and curiosity. Construction on the house is progressing so slowly that I will consider myself fortunate …
Family
I suspected but did not realize the strength and uniqueness of my family until my 70th birthday. I have never been a fan of birthdays, and would just as soon see them pass unnoticed as just another day. This year, the year of my 70th birthday is different. Living minimally and hermit-like and off the …
Reinvention
In 2002, I left corporate America for the first time, returned in 2004 and walked away with finality in 2012. Although I enjoyed the many trips I made to Latin America with my friend Dwight, I gained little satisfaction from the corporate world, only money. I left in 2002 with the desire and commitment to …
Water
I am midway through my ninth week of living minimally ‘off the map.’ Excepting the broken leg from a week ago, it has been an exhilaratingly positive experience on all fronts: spiritually, mentally and physically. I was schooled in the ‘whole man concept’ as a cadet at the Air Force Academy 50 years ago. That …
Lessons from the Forest
Three months ago, I wrote about the lessons the Kinnickinnic River taught me when I kayaked in high, rapid water with my friend Adam. Nature continues to teach me, and once more, the hard, humbling way, but that approach is certain to capture one’s attention… Since moving up to the hill with Clarence, I have …
The Peak of Summer
A strong storm rumbled across the upper Midwest this morning. It carried a message. “This is the peak of summer,” the strong wind proclaimed. Although autumn is my favorite time of year, I am sad to see this particular summer end. Oddly, I don’t recall feeling this way since the summer of 1966 as I …