The Liberated Life Project offers inspiration for
personal and collective liberation.
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Ouyporn and Maia
Ouyporn Khuankaew and Ginger Norwood are two inspiring women based in Thailand who embody what it means to live a “liberated life” — they are dedicated to freedom not only for themselves but for all sentient beings.
I’ve been deeply honored to get to know and work with them over these past years; back in 2011 I wrote “How to Find the Courage to Question Your World,” an article profiling Ouyporn’s life.
A Coming Out Story
“Tree of Life and Wisdom” yarn painting by Mariano Navarro Valadez
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure… Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
~Marianne Williamson
Over the past few years, I’ve been on a treasure hunt. I’ve been looking for the common thread that connects my diverse expressions of work (writer… anthropologist… organizational consultant… Buddhist chaplain… and so much more!). I’m happy to say I’ve found it. Creating space for liberating change is that thread, and this new website represents the end phase of that search.
Space is the secret ingredient that makes change possible – not just any change, but the kind of change that liberates us from fear and opens us to new possibilities for our life and work. Another name for it is “transformation.”
The Koan of Staying Engaged and Letting Go
Planting a Tree in Thailand (2014)
This article is based on a dharma talk I gave at Upaya Zen Center on December 24, 2014.
Prelude
A number of years ago, I lived in Monterey, California, a beautiful city right along the central coast of California. The town next to Monterey is Pacific Grove, and one of my favorite places to go there was a grove of eucalyptus trees – this was the winter home of the monarch butterflies. When you walked into the grove and see towering eucalyptus trees, you’d think you were seeing their leaves draping down from the top of the tree to near the ground. Then the sun would come out and the entire ‘branch’ would come alive and start moving. That’s when you realized that these were the butterflies, flapping their wings as they dried off from the ocean fog.
