Natalie Goldberg Deck: Card #10
Write about the weather.
I’m working through the Natalie Goldberg deck of writing subjects. Each card in this world-renowned author and zen teacher’s Deck contains a writing topic on one side and a short lesson on the reverse, delivered in Natalie’s honest, heartfelt urgency. “This is my wish for you:” she says. “[T]hat you take these cards, grab the topic on one side and write, write, write . . . Remember no good or bad. Just words on the page.”
Write about the weather. There are so many weather moments I could write about. The Wyoming winter where we had weeks of 58 degrees below zero (without the wind chill factor). If you ran out of gas and left your truck, you died. And my first Tuscan summers in 100 degree weather with no air conditioning — how I learned to suss out the cool pockets in the olive grove, behind the buildings, and how I sometimes had to just strip naked and lie down on top of the sheets, waiting out the afternoon furnace, sometimes bathing in a luke warm bath to cool off.
But Hurricane Sandy. That was weather with a capital W. Here is an excerpt from the journal I kept. It’s from sometime during the nine days we were without power. Read more…
Carleigh Berryman: A Quiet Heroine
Bring virtual reality experiences to the elderly in nursing homes
This young woman (she’s only twenty-five) is bringing the gift of attention and technology to people who are usually overlooked. They get to go to Paris, and see the Eiffel Tower, or to the beach, or hike up the mountains—even the ones who can’t walk. It’s a brilliant idea. And she’s making it happen in more and more places. Brava, Carleigh!
Meditations and Musings
Starting Monday March 20th, 3X3 resumes.
That means that, starting next Monday—at 3pm every day for 3 minutes, I’ll be live on Instagram, with something to make us smile. Or to ground us in reality—as opposed to the crazy circus going on in our heads. Or to bring a little levity to the situation at hand.