à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Healing
On the Importance of the Right Container
Imagine you’re handed a precious elixir that requires immediate refrigeration. All you have is a used plastic supermarket container. You wash, rinse and wipe it dry before transferring the elixir. The next day you notice a leak from a pinprick in the bottom. Quickly, you tape it. Shortly thereafter, you observe that the amount of … 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
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
Diagnosis: Spiritual Whiplash
What’s “spiritual whiplash”? In my case, snapping from deep gratitude to intoxicating greed in less time than it takes to say namaste. The gratitude: As I wrote here (“Cents and Sensible Shoes”) I worried I’d be stuck wearing closed-toed shoes all summer since I need to use orthotics all the time. When I learned that … Continue reading
Cents and Sensible Shoes
The horrifying collapse of the building in Bangladesh was on my mind when I went on another shoe expedition this weekend. With Denver temperatures reaching the 80s, I wondered if I’d have to imprison my toes all summer in lace-ups that accommodate my boat-sized, white orthotics. Since Colorado might as well be called Flip-flopistan (some … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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