Let’s talk about My Grandfather’s Blessings.
The Right Thing
The Afterlife
James Nachtwey
Our Responsibility
The End is Near or Not
Cronkite
Your Value
Being Loved, Now
Miracle or Space Junk
Focus, Choices, Time
Bibs, Tie, Coat
Loving Kindness or Other
Love All People
Clean Kitchen
Make Yourself a Great Day
Gifted and Talented
Success and the 100/100 Game
Everyday Miracles
Lambrecht Evaluation
Friendship
The Miracle of Trees
Caring People, Jobs Well Done
Customer Service, Not Really
Highway Attention
The Lie We Need to End
Ayla Schafer
Acknowledgement
Time In Loving-Kindness
Mary Abbott
Gratitude II
Washing Feet
Gratitude
Stories
Help Is Not on the Way
We Are Not About Solution
Loving Kindless is Not About Hope
Do Not Be Diminished
Taylor Swift
Friends
No Break at All
My Heart is Broke Today
Resolutions vs. Being
Overwhelm
24/7 365 Celebration
Cell Phones
Adab
One Person Talks in the Room
Genetically Engineered What
One Second
Greed
Doing vs. Saying
Evil
Waking Up
Lassie
Talking to Cells
A World that Works for Everyone is in My Heart
Precious Second
Not Knowing
Children at Play, Laughter
Boundless Brothers
This Second
Hinge of Fate
Loving Cells
Mocassins
Wanting Well for People
Ideas vs. Experience
4×4 and a Blowtorch
Powerless
Better Than BS
Speaking Ill of Another
Kai Beeler
Make Yourself a…
Constant Retreat
Everything Counts
In It Together
Jonna Jinton
Bioengineered Food
Having a Goal
Foolish
Email & Emergencies
Assistance Wanted
Nurture Children
Corrections
Superstition and Focus
The Heart
Nothing Others Do is About YOU
I Don’t Know
Question Everything
Inconsideration
How Things Turn Out
What We Can Do
Data or Opinion
79:80 Cents
Experience vs. Ideas
Speaking Ill of Others
Alive With Purpose
Dad on His Knees
Taught to Think
Playing Small
Silence
Arrogance
Experience vs. Thinking
Problem Solution
Useful and Unuseful Emotions
Anti-Racist, Negative Context
Fashion Statement
The Practice of Medicine
NASCAR Effect
Not Too Bright
Speaking About Love
A Space to Grow
Silence
Useful, Timely and Appropriate
You, Boy!
Routine vs. Experience
The Experience of What Every Person Can Do
Good & Evil, Right & Wrong
No Talk About Love or Value
2.3 to 8.2 Trillion Missing
Loving Kindness and Other
Giving Way
You Valuable Person, You
Cars on Water
Simple, Not Easy
Censorship, Part 2
Censorship, Part 1
Simplicity
Walter Cronkite
Make vs. Have
Finding vs. Creating
Attitude & Solutions
Communication & Driving
Thought Leader, I Doubt It
Everything Counts vs. Anal Retentive
W. Edwards Deming
Viktor Frankl and Attitude
Holding Everyone in Our Hearts
Surety About Anything
Righteousness
Damage, Violence and Evil
Purpose of Education
Do Not Believe Anything I Say
Headaches Away
Joy, Experienced
Green Stamps
The Literal Nature of Namaste
Brilliance of Cells
Real Ownership
Loving Kindness or Other
Native Wisdom
James Nachtwey
Everything Counts
Ram Dass
Imagining
Non Sibi Sed Cunctis
Fear or Giving Up the Known
Accidental, Not Likely
The Absurdity of Boredom
The Basics
Gandhi on Discipline
Equal Pay for Equal Work
Circumstances vs. Solutions
IBM and Bow Ties
Understanding vs. Experience
Interruption
Mirror
Censorship
Damage
Z-17 or Solution?
Garbage
Cell Phone Etiquette
Gossip
Privilege 2
Privilege
Ableist Language
Differently Able
Agreements (Part 2)
Agreements (Part 1)
Solution
Listening 100%
Lazy
Competition
Good and Evil
Distance Learning
Communication (Part 2)
Communication (Part 1)
Ownership
MLK
Make Yourself a Happy New Year
Love, Be Loved, Count, Choice!
Loving Strangers
Presence
Energy & Enthusiasm
100:100 Game
4 Step Problem Solving Matrix
Thanksgiving
Expectations
Trump Invitation
Capitalization
Choice in Everything
Saluting the Flag
More to Learn
Fear & Insecurity
No Fault
Love or Fear
Literal Definition of Namaste!
Categorical Prejudice
Consistency and Loving Kindness
Advice and Opinion
Men Who Rape, Part 2
Men Who Rape, Part 1
African Violet
Dishes
Who Did What
Empire Financial
Rachel Naomi Remen
More to Learn…
Keisha Lance Bottoms
George Floyd
Sweet Potato
Veracity, Part II
Veracity
You Are The Miracle
Pale Blue Dot
Religion
Enlightened Capitalism
Being and Doing
Thanks, Bernie!
Wanting Well
Context
Getting Outside
Intention
Groundedness (Part 2)
Groundedness (Part 1)
Victims
Fairness
Insufficient Data
Value & Worth
Woodbridge
Love
Greta
Happy Second
Primary Experiences
Words
The Singing Bowl
Experience Being Outside
Violence
Thanksgiving
There is nothing like the sound of the open ocean crashing against the rocky coast of Maine. Listen for a minute and you will hear the rhythm, the pace of the sea water as it hits the shore. Day in and day out that water comes in and goes out, in cycles as regular as anything on Earth. Two high tides and two low tides each day, predictable years in advance. At anything but the highest of tides, you can see the tidal marks of the water at last high tide. There is something so regular, powerful, beautiful about it, that in this one place, I sense the entire ordering of the universe, the incredible gift we have been given – life – is impossible to miss in this place. Almost anything can be going wrong, crisis upon crisis and in this place by the ocean, I am, in the midst of chaos, at peace. I feel connected to all things. I become at peace with all people because I know in my heart the temporal nature of our existence on this planet.
If I have painted well, you will sense that this is a magical place for me. One that without effort or energy creates calm and an over-riding experience of loving kindness. The problem is that I don’t live by the ocean. I live about an hour away, inland in the lovely rolling hills of Litchfield. Sometimes I am in Chicago or Newark or New York, long distances from my instant tranquility machine. In those moments, I have learned that I must be able to recreate the ingredients of this experience by the ocean in order to be as focused and useful as possible in the world.
It may be that for you the place which creates these special feelings of oneness with the world and tranquility of the soul has nothing to do with the ocean. For you, it may be a particularly beautiful garden that you tend with all your heart. It may be a range of mountains so beautiful that it takes away your breath. It may be a glass-smooth lake, just when the fish are feeding. It may be a machine, so awesome in its detail that the majesty of human imagination is unavoidable. For each of us it will be different and for each of us there is usually a place, a magical place where peace, calm and being centered come naturally.
Over the years, I have learned ways to capture the feeling of these special places and recreate them in places that bear no resemblance to the ocean: in hotel rooms in the heart of huge cities, in distant lands or simply at a client’s site in new territory. It is my experience that there are three ingredients which comprise this special, renewing feeling of caring for the soul.
The first component is the spiritual nature of the experience. When I am at the ocean, I feel the incredible gift I have been given, to be alive, awake and able to communicate with loving-kindness. For me this is a gift from God. So I read the Bible, fives versions so far. I have read the Qur’an, the original teachings of the Buddha, The Course in Miracles, The Kabbalah, the Tao, The Counting of the Omer and The Book of Mormon. While the influence of human beings is discernable in all these texts, reading other’s experiences and stories reminds me that all people throughout time have worked to understand the spiritual nature of our existence. It allows me to know that we all consider the nature of our existence. The more I am aware of this, the greater my compassion for all beings, no matter where I might meet them along the path.
The second ingredient is a sense of connectedness. When I am not at the ocean, any gift of nature, trees, plants, even a six inch square of earth will produce the experience of inter-connectedness. I have an inspiring, angel-winged begonia in my office. It is well over four feet high and four feet wide. If I look at it carefully, the growth of its leaves, the shoots that become beautiful flowers and the delicate nature of its water supply system, I am blown away. I think about the soil it grows in, the air it purifies, the water it requires. I realize that my ancestors are in that soil, part of that water. We are life, inner connected in everything we do and touch. It reminds me that there is nothing I do not impact and that I am impacted by. It reminds me that the children dying of hunger and malnutrition are my children.
The third ingredient is the process of introspection and a recognition that the only thing I control is how I am going to be today. At the ocean, the power of the experience reminds me of the power within me. Away from it, I read books that remind us through questions and inquiry about the gifts we have been given. My favorites are in the “What One Person Can Do” collection: Thich Nhat Hanh, Don Miguel Ruiz, Greg Baer, MD, Marianne Williamson, Rachel Naomi Remen and James Nachtwey. Recently I finished Nelson Mandela, In His Own Words, an edited collection of his speeches and Emmanuel’s Book II, The Choice for Love. I read anything recommended to me, that helps me realize that the way I am being is up to me. Through this process, I become clear about what I can do something about and that which can be released. There is tranquility in knowing the difference.
The final part of the process is simply to remind myself that I need to be gentle with myself. All I can do is the best I can do. Taking the time to get centered, to revisit what my purpose on the planet is and see if how I intend to be today will further that end creates a sense of peace. Every once in a while, during a day, I will get so wound up in the doingness of life that I forget about the gift of it. I find myself reactivated or upset about something that has nothing to do with me. When I am conscious in those moments, I realize I am stuck, I back away from what or whomever I am dealing with, take a deep breath, remind myself of the tranquility of my soul care, get centered and return to the moment, this time truly being present.
For me, in order for the re-creation to be effective, I need to set aside time before I begin the day. In this way I can frame or contextualize the day before any interactions with people. For ten days recently, I had a four month old guest living with me, so I had to adjust my rising and soul-care in order to be able to anticipate Noel’s internal clock and clear demands. Easy, no; possible, yes. Four children; more demanding, still possible. Other times of the day work for some people, the majority find morning returns the greatest advantage. Once you have truly mastered the space of self-care, each moment of everyday becomes a self-care moment.
Having said all that, be mindful that no one but you can determine what is the best self-care, soul-care for you. They cannot tell you what it should contain nor when it should occur. You will know that you are there when you are able to access, at least once a day, a sense of tranquility, peace and purpose that soothes your soul.
It is our hope that these edited writings will be of use along the way.
To request a copy of Care of the Soul, send an email to bill@oneperson.net
“I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth and of peace. And when you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.”
The first and last word in this collection of writings is this word, Namaste. It is the most powerful single word I have ever heard. It was taught to me by Marge Knuuti, a nurse and teacher, who heard it on her first trip to Calcutta as a volunteer at the Home for the Dying, established by Mother Theresa. After a long, exhausting trip in the intense heat of the Indian summer, Marge wanted to rest when she arrived. As fate would have it, a new group of people, gathered from the streets of Calcutta, had just been brought to the Home to die with dignity and Marge was pressed into service. Fighting back her own feelings of sickness, she knelt to tend to her first patient. Not only had he been placed in the street but had been struck by a vehicle so that a bone protruded from one leg. As Marge came close, he said, “Namaste.” Marge had no idea what it meant and it was eight hours before she could ask one of the Sisters for its definition. That man, having lived a pauper’s life, in great pain and without anesthesia, set an example of grace, courage and loving-kindness that can be a benchmark for us all. This collection of writings is dedicated to that man and that place in us where there is only one of us.”
Contact us to order a copy of “Care of the Soul”.