karen's blog

I was on my way into Boston for the fourth time in 2 weeks, this time I’d stayed overnight at my sister’s house and was taking the train in. This is unusual for me since the train doesn’t come up to my part of the state, but that’s another (long) story…

Nearly 3 years ago around 2 am I woke with a crazy urge to count how many words I have actually journaled over the years. After 5 hours of this tedium as most of my journals are paper based, and after coming up with the scheme of estimating each line with 12 words multiplied by the number of lines on a page times the number of pages in each journal, I came up with 609,000 words.

This blog could be called “getting kicked around”, “being resilient”, or “it’s about damn time”. All three of these sentiments illustrate a current professional state of mind given the past few years of work in the business banking arena (my other, salary-based work). I have no doubt that I’m not alone in experiencing often severe trials and tribulations over being in a corporate box. Don’t think too much outside the box or you’ll create waves and get yourself labeled AGGRESSIVE.

There is a quixotic yet profound practice called Tonglen that involves energetically releasing or giving away excess joy that one feels. Excess? Who has excess joy? What a concept! For the real essence of this practice, look up Pema Chodron. But for my take on it, read on.

I am very fortunate that my mother-in-law raised my husband to do chores at an early age. He began washing dishes, changing sheets and mopping floors at 7 years of age and truly appreciates the importance of cleanliness and order. I was raised with my mother doing all the housework and my father doing all the yard work; very clearly defined gender boundaries.

Happy New Year THIS is the year of INTUITION - of attending to the truth that exists in and instructs through the body. Numerically the year 2008 (2+0+0+8=10) equals (1) the number of communication and confidence and (0) with special gifts.Because the body is a molecular mirror of Mother Earth, we can understand and respond to her call for action as it expresses itself through intuition.

I occasionally encounter a situation in which a difficult subject like the effects of mass coffee or cocoa production, precious metals and gem mining, or the waste generated by a spoiled consumer society is a potential off-shoot of a conversation.