à la carte spirit by ilona fried
ilona fried
When a Memory’s Absence Tells a Story
A former boyfriend, from decades and another continent ago, e-mailed me last week to mention that Barack Obama had visited Germany, where he now lives with his wife and two children. He wrote: “I told my family that, thanks to you, I heard the senior Bush’s speech in Budapest in 1989!” Really? I didn’t remember … Continue reading
On Being a Tourist in My Own Backyard
When I was an active member of the Colorado Mountain Club, hiking steep trails and bagging peaks, it was tempting to pooh-pooh people who “cheated” and drove to the tops of mountains. At times, some of my fellow hikers demeaned folks who were not in good shape or were too “lazy” to spend time in … Continue reading
Swimming to Celebrate
Yesterday at 7:16 a.m. I waded into the local reservoir with Boulder Aquatic Masters. It organizes private swims before the main beach opens: without motorboats and crowds, the area is relatively silent, the water calm. At that hour, the air is still cool. It’s a bit like being on a watery Camino de Santiago: instead … Continue reading
Tendonitis as Spiritual Teacher
Until last autumn, when I overused one of my tendons on the Camino de Santiago, I had never sustained a mobility-impairing injury. While people may say that I was lucky to be injury-free for that long, I often wondered if my fear of getting hurt prevented me from exploring exhilarating and risky pursuits. Maybe I … Continue reading
Now Playing: Spiritual Ping-Pong
My internal experience reminds me of Ping-Pong. On one side of the net is gratitude, well-being and acceptance. On the other is, as Zen monk Cheri Huber points out, ego’s insidious chorus of “something is wrong” or “not enough”. And my attention is the ball, bouncing over the net between the two sides, or flying … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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