I don't really feel like I'm a dharma teacher. I mean, sometimes people put a microphone in front of me and I say something. Sometimes I write something and send it out to a few friends. But mostly I just feel like a dharma student who likes to have conversations with other dharma students about the dharma.
Still, when I told my friend Cortland about this a month ago, he laughed at me.
Read MoreThis weekend I had the chance to speak with my teacher and mentor Joseph Goldstein on the phone. I try to check in with Joseph every few months about my meditation practice, my dharma study, and especially my developing role as somebody who shares these things with others.
In this conversation Joseph and I talked about:
1. Being a dharma mutt
2. The role of dharma teacher
3. Emptiness
It's been over a month since my last post. Reason being, instead of writing about the book, I was actually writing the book. And the very good news is that – amazingly – this thing looks like maybe it's almost done.
Which begs the question: what's this book about, anyway?
Read MoreFinally I got the email from Shambhala. Put simply, they weren't psyched. The way we'd framed the book was too political. And Shambhala doesn't publish political books - like, ever.
Read MoreSo. These two book proposals. As you'll remember, I submitted a proposal, went to a luncheon, got some feedback from an editor, and then split the proposal into two - one that I loved, one that was just kind of . . . meh.
Problem being: I was just about certain Shambhala, being a wise and reputable publisher, would choose the second.
Read MoreA couple weeks later I was on a plane to Colorado for my first ever very official publishing luncheon. Just to make things interesting, this grand little adventure was unfolding in the midst of a big teaching/learning tour, in which Devon and I were in the midst of flying around all over the place.
Read MoreIt's been quite a while since my last blog post. Reason being: Devon and I are writing a book. And writing a book actually takes a lot of writing. And so I haven’t had much headspace to also write these little missives.
But yesterday we handed in our mess of a manuscript to our wonderful editor at Shambhala Publications. And now she'll be making sense of it all for the next couple of weeks. Which means I suddenly I have a little more time on my hands. And so I thought I'd catch you all up on this whole book writing thing.
Read MoreYesterday at sunset I went walking on the beach next to my house. It was a lovely evening, the sun dropping beneath a phalanx of red-tipped clouds, waves crashing - and right there in the middle of it all, a couple was getting married.
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