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Celebrating 10 Years of Creative Self-Employment
This is the back story of how I started working for myself and my path these past 10 years… If you want to jump right to the 10 Lessons I’ve learned, click here!
In the spring of 2008, my life was starting over. Again.
Like you, I’ve had many life chapters with beginnings and endings – in relationships, homes, jobs. But 2007 was a particularly rough year, an intersection of painful endings in all those areas of my life including a layoff from an organization that I’d given blood, sweat, and tears to for nearly ten years.
As March of 2008 arrived and I was wrapping up my work at that organization, I searched for the next step in my career life. With a lot of nonprofit experience under my belt, I sent out one resume after another, thinking it wouldn’t take long to find something with so many opportunities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I got no responses. Crickets.
Standing in the Stream of Ancestors
Walking, I am listening to a deeper way.
Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me.
Be still, they say. Watch and listen.
You are the result of the love of thousands.
~Linda Hogan (Native American writer)
This time of year, with golden aspen and cottonwood leaves falling all around, my heart opens to the truth of impermanence. I feel much more awareness of those who are no longer here with us but who live on within us in so many ways. Dia de los Muertos—the Day of the Dead, observed on November 1–is a time to remember our ancestors. In the spiritual tradition that I practice, Zen Buddhism, there is also a great emphasis on being part of a stream of ancestors–a lineage of wise ones and teachers who came before us and who continue to support us.
What does it mean to stand in a stream of ancestors?
The Dharma of Money
This article is based on a dharma talk that I gave at Upaya Zen Center on May 11, 2016.
To listen to the podcast of the recorded talk, click here.
If you’re interested in exploring the possibility of having me lead a Dharma of Money workshop for your sangha, please contact me here.
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Money is a powerful force in our lives.
On the one hand it’s simply a piece of paper. It’s just a symbol, and yet such a powerful one. How can we relate to money from the perspective of a meditation practice? How can it be a vehicle for doing harm, but also for doing good, for empowering people and causes?
Let’s start with this…. What is money, and where did it come from?
