heart of compassion malas

Three wooden wrist malas Hello! This blog has been moved...

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:18:00 -0700

Three wooden wrist malas

Hello! This blog has been moved to:

http://www.heartofcompassionmalas.blogspot.com

And because for some reason I get a lot of hits from Brazil, (Hello San Paulo!), here is the redirect in Portuguese:

Olá!! Este blogue foi movido para: http://www.heartofcompassionmalas.blogspot.com

And in Spanish:

¡Hola! Este blog se ha movido a: http://www.heartofcompassionmalas.blogspotcom

And French:

Bonjour, ce blog a été déplacé à : http://www.heartofcompassionmalas.blogspot.com

And German:

Hallo, ist dieses Blog auf verschoben worden: http://www.heartofcompassionmalas.blogspot.com

And Italian:

Ciao, questo blog è stato mosso verso: http://www.heartofcompassionmalas.blogspot.com

I’m sorry if I left out your language. Visit my Etsy shop for details about worldwide shipping.

This blog is closed, gone. To read the new one please click...

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:43:36 -0700

This blog is closed, gone. To read the new one please click over to

http://www.heartofcompassionmalas.blogspot.com

Thanks! See you there.

P.S. The last year’s worth of posts on this blog are still here. But I’m really not adding to it except to say, just this once, that:

This blog is closed, gone. To read the new one please click over to

http://www.heartofcompassionmalas.blogspot.com

Thanks! See you there.

Tumblr, I've loved you but I'm moving on!

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:49:00 -0700

Dear Tumblr… You’ve been a great first blog. Sort of like a first marriage,...

Day Lilies with Backlighting

Tue, 26 May 2009 16:26:08 -0700

Day Lilies with Backlighting

Happy Memorial Day to You! Wherever you are, whatever you do,...

Mon, 25 May 2009 10:11:17 -0700

Happy Memorial Day to You!

Wherever you are, whatever you do, have a happy Memorial Day. Whether it’s by yourself or with a crowd, with a barbecue or just some miso soup, enjoy the day. Whether you get to work today or go have the day off, enjoy it.

That’s the same wish I have for you for every day. That we all enjoy being alive. In the good of it, in the difficultness of it, alone, together—we are always loved. We must always love each other, too!

Recently, while studying compassion with my meditation group, we remembered the songs “(All We Are Saying,) Give Peace a Chance” and “What the World Needs Now is Love”. My group is knee-deep in trying to bring ancient Buddhist teachings on love and compassion into our lives, and we realized how many people have been trying to do this for decades. These songs are just two examples.

Now, we need love more than ever. We need to each search for forgiveness and compassion inside ourselves—both for ourselves and for others. Because as we try to do what many refer to as “healing the planet” we need to heal ourselves from the inside out first. Then we can exist with each other. We are all just a heartbeat away from death…we share that mortality. We also are related, by blood actually! Distant cousins, maybe, but related none-the-less.

I don’t know why, but I’m all fired up on this today. Light the Memorial Day barbecue of Love!

I’ll provide the lighter fluid.

Peace.

Saw this sign in an antiques and garden shop in Santa Cruz last...

Mon, 18 May 2009 16:41:35 -0700

Saw this sign in an antiques and garden shop in Santa Cruz last week. It says it all. Sometimes, lately especially, a foto says more than I could.

When I was a kid there was no steamed milk. Can you remember...

Sat, 16 May 2009 09:06:44 -0700

When I was a kid there was no steamed milk. Can you remember those dark, deprived old days? :-) Always grateful for a delicious cuppa. Enjoy your day, whatever your drink.

Happy Mother’s Day to All!

Sun, 10 May 2009 14:56:06 -0700

Happy Mother’s Day to All!

Bloom wherever you’re planted.

Thu, 07 May 2009 10:40:15 -0700

Bloom wherever you’re planted.

A Sitting Place at SRF Gardens Overlooking the Sea

Tue, 05 May 2009 23:18:12 -0700

A Sitting Place at SRF Gardens Overlooking the Sea

Yep, I learned to make bread…the first loaf Thanks to Mare...

Sun, 03 May 2009 23:33:00 -0700

Yep, I learned to make bread…the first loaf

Thanks to Mare of Moon & Stars Studio, I’ve learned to mix up a batch of dough, let it rise, refrigerate it, take it out and form a ball, rest it, and bake it. It’s seriously that easy.

This technique is from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking. And it does. Up until now I’ve made only brick-loaf, a specialty passed down from mother to child in my family. But now I have…warm bread for breakfast, fresh bread for sandwiches for lunch, and warm bread for the family for dinner. And the low-carb diet is out the window and I’m ordering larger pants. (Just Kidding) And although I’ve spent $60 on the book, the pizza paddle (“peel”), an oven thermometer, and flour, I am about to never have to buy a store loaf again. Which is too bad for Orowheat and Roman Meal, but good for my family. Because now I get to put my favorite ingredient in their bread…LOVE!

Nothing spells lovin’ like bread from the oven.

The bread tastes so good, there just aren’t adequate adjectives for it. You’ll have to fill them in yourself.

This bread is ____________, __________, ________, and ____________.

Did I mention there’s no need for kneading? No reason to punch? No proof that proofing the yeast works? Yes, now making bread is as easy as…making bread.

Thanks, Mare. You and bloggers like you are a constant inspiration to me! I wish we could all meet and have coffee, maybe in some centrally-located place like Kansas.

I’ve always wanted to go to Kansas. But I will never knit like you do.

Hanging Cactus at Self Realization Fellowship Gardens This...

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:03:28 -0700

Hanging Cactus at Self Realization Fellowship Gardens

This cactus caught my eye last week at the meditation gardens. I swear the colors of the flowers there are digitally enhanced! The brothers who tend the garden do such careful work. They are quiet and rarely interact with visitors, intent upon their jobs. One day three of them were cleaning the koi pond as I meditated. Wearing thigh-high wading boots, they cleaned as the giant koi swam about them.

Visiting the gardens this time of year is less of a quiet meditation experience and more an experience of sharing. Everyone visits and they talk and talk in many different languages…it’s a good thing, but different than the winter months when it’s more peaceful.

Did I tell you about Yogananda’s lap pool? It’s still there. An empty, small, blue square pool with colorful tile wall backing it and a small grass lawn around it. It is one of the most revered spots there. I love to sit beside it and look at the ocean and surfers as I say my mantras silently. It really is a deeply profound place. I can just imagine him swimming slow laps.

Yogananda loved so many aspects of all different religions, you feel that he’s just there still as an encouraging, loving friend.

Thank you, dear SRF friends, for keeping these gardens open!

Pigeonholing Susan Boyle Last week when the news of Susan...

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:06:00 -0700

Pigeonholing Susan Boyle

Last week when the news of Susan Boyle’s singing on Britain’s Got Talent hit the media, almost everyone shed a tear at her discovery, this plain-looking, never-been-kissed, 47-year-old cat lover from Scotland. How could she have such an amazing voice? The assumption many made was that no one who looked like that (eyebrows too heavy and dark, graying hair, too heavy) could possibly sing like an angel.

A giant “hooray for the underdog” was heard around the world.

Today the media reports that she’s changed—gone through a hair cut, dye job, new outfit—and her eyebrows have been lightened and shaped. She wears a Burberry scarf and leather jacket in one photo. Now she has what would seem to me be half a chance to compete with other singers.

But the world seems to want her to stay the same—dowdy, shy, unusual, a surprise. There are complaints about her sudden change. I say go for it. How about blond highlights? A little lipstick?

This cracks me up because it shows how we typecast everyone and everything. We break it down into pigeonholeable pieces so we can “get it” quickly.

There’s little room for ambiguity in this approach! So little looking for depth. In short, we are very superficial.

Let Susan be herself. The voice is what counts, a voice that I think will rival Sarah Brightman and Celine Dion’s. I was raised on a musical diet that included opera, which has always been cherished for the voices more than the appearance of the singers.

Can you think of times when you’ve neatly fit someone into a little box? Sometimes it’s so that we can continue on our day without thinking about how similar we all are. It’s really hard not to judge and stereotype. This question relates to the Buddhist idea of equanimity towards all beings and non-judgementalism.

Take a listen to her singing, if you’re one of the few who haven’t already! It has so much character.

My Life With Dog Part IX—Penny’s on the Floor

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:18:38 -0700

My Life With Dog Part IX—Penny’s on the Floor

You have to love Penny Lane

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:06:05 -0700

You have to love Penny Lane

I think this bodhisattva is trying to hail a cab. Part three of...

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:10:34 -0700

I think this bodhisattva is trying to hail a cab. Part three of “Budda Sale” series shot on 101 in Leucadia

This bodhisattva Must Go! (see sign behind)

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:08:45 -0700

This bodhisattva Must Go! (see sign behind)

Buddha for sale—on the way to my local coffee shop I often...

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:44:06 -0700

Buddha for sale—on the way to my local coffee shop I often pass by a furniture store with carved wooden Buddhas out front. Yesterday the light hitting the Buddha’s face combined with the yellow “sale” signs moved me. The Buddhas have wisdom that knows and compassion that cares. And if one of them decides to move into your house, that’s a considerable blessing.

Round and Round-“mala manifesto” reposted from...

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:37:00 -0700

Round and Round-“mala manifesto” reposted from February 28th, 2009

Round and round are the beads on a mala, and the fingers holding each bead as it goes by.

Round and round stands for the cyclic pattern of birth and rebirth.

Round and round also means fun, like a kid spinning until she is dizzy and laughing, falling down.

Round and round are my thoughts.

Round and round is a perfect line in a Joni Mitchell song, Circle Game.

I remember it from childhood:

“Yesterday a child came out to wonder

Caught a dragonfly inside a jar

Fearful when the sky was full of thunder

And tearful at the falling of a star

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and dawn
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game.”

I think of that all the time as I raise my children-two teenagers.

I’ve been making malas for myself, for my own spiritual practice for years. One night I dreamed of an amethyst and flourite mala. I made it and it is so beautiful and friendly to work with.

I’m not sure if enough people know about malas. They are Buddhist rosaries. But they shouldn’t just be for Buddhists! They’re lovely, feel good, help you connect with your inner self, (and with a higher power) help you calm and heal yourself and direct positivity outwards for others and for the world. And I think they are an art form.

I’ll post pictures next.

Be well, be happy, be safe.

*********

4/6/09

What a year this has been! Oh my goodness, sometimes I feel like we’re clinging with our fingernails to the earth as it spins faster and faster. This month three great lamas who I knew about passed on. I know they’re in a higher dimension sending love to us on earth now.

Somehow I know that things are getting better. The flowers are emerging with force, the puppy is learning somehow not to bite as much, the teenagers are flocking to the beach. Times will always remain challenging and overly interesting (the curse of living in “interesting times”) but there is such joy and hope in springtime.

Take care, my friends! Rejoice in what we have and in what we can do. Spread love and compassion.

(hand-dyed hemp scarf from rainbowrevolution on Etsy. She works with colors as a color therapist in Australia.)

Beach Flowers-It’s Spring!

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:17:08 -0700

Beach Flowers-It’s Spring!