Before the New Year

These days, I am far more interested in self-acceptance than in further improvements. Seems to me that a good deal of pop psychology is thinly veiled self-rejection. Of course, I want to continue to discover more about life and myself. I just don’t want to miss the quiet knowing that has always been present. -Jonathan Young … Continue reading »

A Cat’s Wisdom

“The smallest feline is a masterpiece.” -Leonardo DaVinci This is Kung Pao. And no, I didn’t give him that name. In fact, I have a habit of naming cats after characters from old movies. So knowing what I do about him now, I’d probably call him Sheridan Whiteside. From The Man Who Came to Dinner. … Continue reading »

The Ritual of Return

“There’s no place like home.” Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz. If you’ve been here before, you’ve no doubt noticed I’ve been swimming in the waters of “home” lately. For me, it’s like a lake that’s both warm and bracing, placid and choppy. And for the most part, I enjoy that duality. In fact, over the … Continue reading »

Big Questions

…Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is … Continue reading »

Retracing My Steps

Thomas Wolfe famously said: “You can’t go home again.” And yet, I have a recurring daydream where not only do I go home again, but I stay for a few months. Three months, to be exact. I don’t know why, but three months seems like the right amount of time. I plucked it from the … Continue reading »