turning point in my life came one day on a train in the middle of a drowsy spring afternoon. The old car clanked and rattled over the rails. It was comparatively empty -- a few housewives with their kids in tow, some old folks out shopping, a couple of off-duty bartenders studying the racing form. I gazed absently at the drab houses and dusty hedge rows. At one station the doors opened, and suddenly the quiet afternoon was shattered by a man bellowing at the top of his lungs — yelling violent, obscene, incomprehensible curses. Just as the doors closed the man, still yelling, staggered into our car. He was big, drunk, and dirty. He wore laborer’s clothing. His front was stiff w... posted on Dec 8 2011 (42,394 reads)

supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.” - Arnold Toynbee   Following your passion can be a tough thing. But figuring out what that passion is can be even more elusive.   I’m lucky — I’ve found my passion, and I’m living it. I can testify that it’s the most wonderful thing, to be able to make a living doing what you love.   And so, in this little guide, I’d like to help you get started figuring out what you’d love doing. This turns out to be one of the most common problems of many Zen Habits readers — including many who recently responded to me on Twitter.... posted on Feb 5 2012 (86,169 reads)

of Note is one of our favorite places to hang out. Since 2009 the site has curated hundreds of interesting letters, telegrams, memos and faxes, from famous people, regular people, and even fictional people. We took advantage of their hard work and rounded up these 11 thank you (and one thanks-for-nothing) letters from their archives. And there’s a Letters of Note book in the works — learn more and preorder a copy here. 1. Thank You for the Dream You Sent Me Once upon a time (1989), a little girl named Amy sent a bottle of colored water, oil and glitter to Roald Dahl, who knew right away that this was a dream in a bottle inspired by his book, The BFG. ... posted on Feb 16 2012 (90,310 reads)

Naomi Remen, MD, is co-founder and medical director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program and founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (ISHI) at Commonweal. ISHI is a training institute for health professionals who wish to serve people with life threatening illness and take a more relationship-centered approach to the practice and teaching of medicine. The institute's approach is based upon experience with over 600 people with cancer who have participated in Commonweal's programs and on Dr. Remen's 20-year experience counselling people with cancer and those who love them. In addition to being a physician for 30 years, Dr Remen h... posted on Mar 23 2012 (50,990 reads)

2 AM Wakeup Call   Fame and fortune crowned this gifted artist early on. He rocketed to stardom barely into his twenties. But Nimo remembers the dark despair of a night that found him lying awake at 2 AM with a searing question: “Is this it?"  In the eyes of the world he was living the dream but, "I was not at peace, not content and not in a daily space of joy and gratitude. I began wondering, where does this all go, when does it stop, where does this end?”   Nimesh Patel, better known as "Nimo" to friends and fans, was drawn to music straight from childhood.  His casual classroom raps eventually evolved into full-... posted on May 4 2012 (59,564 reads)

has been little in my life that has made as much an impact as learning to be content — with my life, where I am, what I’m doing, what I have, who I’m with, who I am. This little trick changes everything. Let’s take a look at my life before contentedness: I was addicted to junk food and fast food, and overweight and unhealthy. I bought too many things on impulse, owned too much clutter, and was deeply in debt and struggling to make it to the next payday. I was unhappy with who I was, wanted desperately to change, tried a thousand different programs and books. I was always worried I was missing out on exciting things, and wanted so much to be out do... posted on Sep 8 2012 (36,909 reads)

holds the possibility for expanding our capacity to love. There is only one reason to forgive. If we want to be free, if we want to live as the full and unlimited expression of ourselves, if we want our hearts to open, then we are being invited to put an end to all stories that keep us closed and contracted. Consider also these benefits of forgiveness: less stress, lower heart rate, lower blood pressure, improved sleep, greater psychological well being. What exactly is forgiveness? When we are in the state of unforgiving, we are holding on to a grudge. A grudge is a story of hurt and resentment that we believe to be true and repeat over and over in our thoughts. I... posted on Jun 7 2021 (60,747 reads)

poems of Naomi Shihab Nye have an uncanny way of showing up at exactly the right moment to summon you below the surface of your life. The child of a Palestinian father and an American mother, her poems speak a language deeper than culture, history or religion. Through the portal of the everyday—a grocery store, an olive press, the headlines—she draws us into the most profound questions and revelations of the soul. In addition to writing poetry, Nye writes fiction, essays and children’s books, and has edited several anthologies.  KIM ROSEN: What do you feel is the role of poetry, especially in these times? NAOMI SHIHAB NYE: Poetry helps us imagine one ano... posted on Jan 10 2013 (27,115 reads)

June 2010, Snigdha Manickavel and her husband Bapoorau brought home a little black puppy from an animal shelter in South India. Mia had been brought in with her mother and three of her siblings, and was the only one of the pups to survive. The young couple who adopted her had no idea how deeply this bright-eyed newcomer would touch their hearts and transform their lives. In this short piece Snigdha opens a window onto their experience...which at its core is the experience of anyone who stumbles upon the gift of unconditional love. Mia will not always come if you call her. She may or may not sit: it depends on her mood. She definitel... posted on Mar 31 2013 (14,916 reads)

Simon: Today my guest is Matthieu Ricard. Matthieu is an author and photographer who earned a PhD in cell genetics. He is also a Buddhist monk who has served as the Dalai Lama’s French interpreter since 1989. Matthieu has written several books, including The Monk and the Philosopher, The Quantum and the Lotus, as well as The Art of Meditation. With Sounds True, he has released an audio learning program based on his book called Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill. In this episode of “Insights at the Edge,” I spoke with Matthieu via Skype quite late at night while he was at his monastery in Nepal. We discussed the ski... posted on May 14 2013 (55,557 reads)

don’t mean love, when I say patriotism,” writes Ursula K. Le Guin in her classic 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness. “I mean fear. The fear of the other. And its expressions are political, not poetical: hate, rivalry, aggression.” In some corners, patriotism has a bad name. “Patriot” is mildly defined in my desktop dictionary as a “supporter of one’s own country”—and yet my thesaurus suggests the word “patriotism” can be synonymous with jingoism, chauvinism, nativism, and xenophobia. Particularly during times of war, patriotism does indeed seem to go hand-in-hand with dehumanization of outsid... posted on Jul 4 2013 (20,077 reads)

writing the movie Soul Surfer (a true story about a teenage surfer, Bethany Hamilton, whose arm was bitten off during a shark attack), I discovered that Bethany went back into the water to try surfing again less than one month after the horrific attack. When I asked her how she could have possibly gotten the courage to go back into the water, especially so soon after the terrifying event, she told me quite simply that she knew if she waited even another day longer, she may never have gone back in again. She told me how some surfers can “psych themselves out” after a gnarly accident thinking about all of the “what ifs” and replaying the terror of the mo... posted on Jul 20 2013 (42,348 reads)

received a letter in the mail the other day. It was the kind of letter that is painful to read because it stirred up old feelings and made me believe, for a mere moment or two, that I was right back in the muds of my yesterday. That, at any moment, I could be vulnerable to pulling the thread that would lead to my unraveling once again. I stood still; I put the phone in my pocket; I breathed in to read: “I’m tired of feeling like this but cannot seem to break the cycle of blah. Part of me does not want to get better because I don’t want to get better just to fall apart again. How can I even begin to find something else to define me, when I feel so empty ri... posted on Sep 15 2013 (30,323 reads)

I was awakened by the sound of shuffling feet. It was my early-bird riser in her big sister’s pajamas that drug across the floor. I wanted to pull the covers over my head and feign sleep. But instead I got up and made toaster waffles that she said tasted “divine.” She kissed me with syrupy sweet lips. Getting up wasn’t my first response. But I did it. Today I lived. Today she lost her shoes for the 37th time in two weeks. It was right before we needed to head out the door. I wanted to scream, to scold, to throw my hands in the air. But instead I held her. I held her. My shoeless girl. Together we found them wet with dew in the backyard and she w... posted on Nov 14 2013 (97,870 reads)

September 26, 2013, a mass movement succeeded in persuading Governor Jerry Brown to sign the California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. How did they do it? By inventing a new way of combating injustice. Credit: Maureen Purtill. All rights reserved. Elizabeth Flores leaned forward to the microphone and fixed the crowd with a smile. “Why is it acceptable that dogs are treated with more dignity and respect than I am”, she said, “as an undocumented immigrant domestic worker in America?” Half-laughing, she pulled away to watch the audience react. Her words might suggest a disempowered victim, but her smile and laughter said something more prof... posted on Jan 9 2014 (15,187 reads)

you like to join me in Monterey to interview Bryant Austin?” Anne Veh asked me . “Are you serious?” I answered. A couple of years earlier, I’d met Austin at an exhibit of his remarkable photographs at Electric Works Gallery in San Francisco and I’d wanted to interview him then. What would it be like swimming right next to whales? How did that come about? There had to be so many things worth hearing about. But circumstances prevented an interview at that time, so I jumped at Anne’s invitation. A few weeks later we met at the Museum of Monterey where an exhibit of Austin’s photos were on display. Before the interview began, Austin walked a group ... posted on Feb 16 2014 (22,014 reads)

Orunamamu The best teacher my children ever had growing up was in Kindergarten. Mary Beth Washington did almost everything contrary to the rules: she took the kids out walking in the rain; she slept with them during naptime; she came to school dressed like a circus performer. She was in love with birds, dancing, poetry and people. The School Board, more than once, voted to fire her, but the parents came to her defense again and again and won the day. She was about 30 years ahead of her time, a Flower Child before the era of flower children, with a genius for teaching kids. Once my own were in high school, the School Board finally had its way and kicked her out. I ran into her this ... posted on May 5 2014 (25,536 reads)

Garfield draws on decades of experience to explore how to create the conditions for a good death. Some years ago, I helped tend to a friend of mine who was dying of cancer. Near the end of his life, he had reached a place of equanimity around dying. But instead of honoring his wishes for a peaceful death, his doctors ordered aggressive chemotherapy treatment, which did nothing to halt his cancer. The treatments caused him immense suffering, rendering him unable to sleep, eat, or converse with family and friends as he was dying. Unfortunately, deaths like my friend’s are not that rare. Though more than 70 percent of Americans surveyed say they want to die in their o... posted on Jun 24 2014 (84,578 reads)

I was a teen growing up outside New York City, my mom was a big country and western fan. I remember the collective groans from my brother, Bret, and me as she ferried us and our friends to after-school activities to the honky-tonk sounds of what I heard as hillbilly twang. One of my mom’s favorite songs was about what to do when you face challenges in life. The lyrics were simple: “There ain’t no easy horses but you gotta learn to ride.” Mom reminded us of that often. Many years later, Bret and I were living in New York City on 9/11. Afterward, our parents begged us to move to the suburbs, where they hoped we’d be out of danger. For Bret and me, leav... posted on Aug 9 2014 (15,350 reads)

tried not to give much thought to the fact that it was Friday the 13th as I sat down with a cup of coffee a little over a week ago and began reading through my emails. My eyes fell on a note from a friend, Melissa. I clicked and read and learned that she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. We are unsure which bay holds my dad until I see a pair of brown woolen socks peeking out from one. The toes are wiggling: a good sign. Melissa is the second of my friends to be diagnosed with breast cancer in the last six weeks and the fourth this year. I am beginning to fear it may be contagious. My fingers hovered over the keys as I tried to think of appropriate words to send Melissa... posted on Sep 7 2014 (17,752 reads)