à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Duality
Veni, Vidi, Edi Prosciutti
At the end of a recent post,”Is Yoga My New Pork?!“, I mused about my longtime curiosity about prosciutto. When I visited Italy in 2007, I didn’t partake but had a close encounter with it: while sitting at a restaurant’s bar, I looked up and found myself staring at a pig’s dark hoof. My eyes followed the … Continue reading
The Perils of Travel (and Food) Snobbery
Comparison is the thief of joy. – Theodore Roosevelt As a fairly well-traveled person with an educated palate, I once took pride in having sampled authentic cuisine in dozens of places around the world. Too much pride, at times. Having tasted what I thought was “the best” or “the truest”, I couldn’t comprehend how many Americans enjoyed meals that … Continue reading
Commitment: to Process or Outcome?
A few days ago I attended a women’s group focused on the theme of commitment. The word itself elicited various reactions, from excitement to a sense of burden or duty. One woman even referred to it as a curse. I smiled and nodded. Despite having written about this subject, hearing the word can still create … Continue reading
Lessons from a Purim Mask
“There is a face beneath this mask, but it isn’t me. I’m no more that face than I am the muscles beneath it, or the bones beneath that.” ― Steve Moore, V for Vendetta Last night I celebrated Purim, the Jewish holiday commemorating the community’s survival in ancient Persia despite a plot to destroy it. … 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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