map

Of Death, Mortality and The Steam of Compassion…

Should Huma Abedin forgive her husband, US Representative Anthony Weiner?

Last Friday, I heard a young woman state that Huma should abort the child she is carrying Weiner.

Should Huma do this I could not condemn her.

I cannot say what a person should are should not do regarding the betrayal a loved one or friend exacts upon him or her.

And yet our ability to move beyond experiences of hurt and emotional injury inflicted by friends, family and even acquaintances whom we hardly know establishes the foundation upon which we will build our healing.

Of Death, Mortality and The Steam of Compassion… Read More »

Of Dukkha, Suffering and Achieving Freedom Through the Boundaries of Relationship…

The Buddha said, “Life is dukkha.”

Most Americans and English speaking peoples translate this into suffering.

But dukkha, a word that originates from Pali, one form of Sanskrit, means so much more.

It its most essential form dukkha address three aspects of the challenges humans face in our efforts to survive and thrive

The pain and suffering of life.

The inevitability of change demanding adaptation and evolution.

The cause-and-effect, interrelatedness

Of Dukkha, Suffering and Achieving Freedom Through the Boundaries of Relationship… Read More »

Of Grinding Pepper, Banalities, and Seeking That Which We Yet Understand…

Working as both a wife of nearly 29 years, and mother of 3, has prepared me in various ways to accomplish the work of a fiction writer.

Working as a wife and mother requires a lot of what an Islamic Imam described as grinding pepper.

Grinding pepper, from the perspective of the imam encompasses those activities that we here in the west describe as comprising the bane of our existence–mindless tasks, that we view as disrespectful of our intelligence and that devalue our worth as a person.

The world banal implies a lack of uniqueness.

Something that is banal possesses no originality.

It is like the wheel that begs for no reinvention, rather more unique and original ways of bringing a deeper level of presence and attention to the task(s) at hand–tasks that when practiced with a presence of mind and heart sharpen our skills and artistry in all areas of life, yield an original creation, and transform us as individuals.

Of Grinding Pepper, Banalities, and Seeking That Which We Yet Understand… Read More »

Of Mars in Cancer, Courts of Change, and Travels…

Every story is like a court case wherein we, the author, like an attorney, tries a case of our protagonist.

Who is on trial?

Is your protagonist the defendant or the plaintiff seeking judgment and damages for a wrong committed upon her or him?

If she or his had been wronged then what was the crime and the injury inflicted?

Who committed the injustice?

What cries out for change?

Is this injustice still occurring at the outset of the novel?

If so what does the central character need to accomplish to stop the wrongful act?

The story we craft becomes our protagonist’s quest, their journey to achieve justice and survival, a tale of change and transformation.

Of Mars in Cancer, Courts of Change, and Travels… Read More »

Of Clarity and Understanding, Guide and Map, Epiphany and Plot…

Reaching that point where the protagonist has made the change, we, as writers feel differently.

We see the world of our novel from another level.

Ideally we come to hold those dimensions of personality regarding our central character(s) come in greater clarity and understanding.

And yet this is also a place where we can get to know ourselves better as individuals, not simply as persons who write.

Of Clarity and Understanding, Guide and Map, Epiphany and Plot… Read More »