à la carte spirit by ilona fried
ilona fried
Notes From the Potato Patch
While I’m terrible with houseplants and have never tried gardening, I’ve long had an unexplored curiosity about how food is brought from the earth. Traipsing through hundreds of miles of vineyards and other agricultural land in Spain last fall, along El Camino de Santiago, brought that interest closer to the surface. And now I’m living … Continue reading
What Does it Mean to “Arrive”?
A week ago Sunday a friend and I got together to practice being present. We sat at a shaded table outside a tea house and spent a moment taking a breath together. Then, we began to notice what was around us. That morning the wind was whimsical, its temperature and direction varying moment by moment, … Continue reading
Commitment: Choice or Coercion?
Life has, again, presented me with an opportunity to write about commitment. Towards the end of June an acquaintance invited me to an event in Denver whose venue was capping the number of guests. It was unclear what the cap was and at what point it would be reached. If I wanted to attend, I … Continue reading
Of Optics and Illusions
When I learned recently I’d need my first pair of glasses, I had two reactions: gratitude for decades of good vision, and excitement about possible looks. More than other accessories, spectacles speak volumes about who we believe ourselves to be and how we wish to come across. Long before I needed a prescription, I lusted … Continue reading
What’s Your Territory?
When I need a sane, no nonsense reminder of what resistance is, and inspiration for battling it daily, I pick up my worn copy of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. It’s a must-read for anyone trying to live more powerfully, whether that means creating art, healing a relationship, or getting in shape. As he … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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