This was not the post I intended to write today. Over the weekend, I learned that beloved Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh passed away, and I felt compelled to write this reflection.

My introduction to the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh was through his book, Peace is Every Step. I remember reading it during a particularly difficult part of my life in 2017. 

I think it was my very first book on Mindfulness and it launched a several year journey into my formal study culminating with my Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification in January of 2021. I'm re-reading it now, with fresh eyes.

There are two  profound quotes that I often refer to during my busy day. The first started me thinking about what is was that I was doing, which clearly lead me into the Seven Mindful Questions.

1.  "We have a tendency to think in terms of doing and not in terms of being. We think that when we are not doing anything, we are wasting our time.

But that is not true. Our time is first of all for us to be.

To ...

Today I'm launching a new feature for 2022: Featured Practitioner of the Month.

Each month I'll be speaking with someone in my network that I love! You get to find out what they do and why they do it.

Sarah is a beam of light that shines in the darkness.

She is one of the "Reiki Girls" that I mention in Grounded in Chaos.

Listen to the interview and see why I love her so much!

You can find her at www.sarahsticklin.com where she has a free video series. I highly recommend you take advantage of it. You can also find her on Instagram @sarahsticklin where she posts the most amazing pictures.

Check out our interview and check out Sarah! 

This week I’m at the Winter 340B Coalition Conference in San Diego. It turned out to be a grey (Pittsburgh grey) day and it was raining, so no outdoor California fun for me.  I typically don’t do well with hurtling my body across the US. This time is no different. My challenge this week, is to be present in the Pacific Time zone. I typically start grounding myself part of the way to the new destination the night before I fly. It helps me sleep and gets rid of jet lag—try it, it works like a charm. 

Friday night, it felt like I could only ground to Kissimmee and Phoenix, the first leg of the trip. I went with it. I grounded into Phoenix, and while waiting for the flight to San Diego, I remembered that I needed to ground into San Diego. This morning it occurred to me that I was still grounded into Phoenix and San Diego. Mountain time and Pacific time.

I have a tool where I extend a connection to the center of the earth by imagining a beam of light, or a waterfall, or a set of tree root...

For the past three days, I’ve been heads down finishing my book, “Staying Grounded in the Middle of Chaos.” In the last 30 minutes, I sent the draft to the editor and reached back out to the cover designer to let him know that we are rounding third base and heading for home. I’m sitting here with my eyes closed typing, feeling into the good feeling of completion. Breathing in ‘yes’. Letting go on the exhale.

My boss calls this the “Polish Vacation.” That’s where you take PTO from your first job, to work on your second job. From Friday morning until this morning, I reread every poem I’d written over the last three years. I use poetry to process emotions. I stopped hiding that I write poetry and there are 75 poems and one Eulogy in the book. It gives me goosebumps to claim that I write poetry. I am a poet. Not in the Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, Maya Angelou way. My way is, well, my way.

Poems pop into my head, especially while I’m walking Oshie. I’ve started carrying my phone so I can ...