à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Spiritual Practice
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
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
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
El Camino with a King Size Bed
“Life is a journey, not a destination.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson I thought of this oft-quoted phrase when, on a Thursday at the end of May, the final Delta flight on my route from Denver to Montreal was cancelled. That it was aborted after we had boarded the aircraft, taxied onto the runway and then, … Continue reading
How Will You Liberate Yourself Today?
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. – Viktor E. Frankl My father used to honor the second day of May as his second birthday. It was not an occasion for … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
Recent comments