Sensitive, the Novel

Cancer Makes a Very Bad Beginning to a Story Four years ago, I begged my dentist to do a biopsy on a sore that had been growing on my tongue for several months. He was reluctant, certain that my insurance would not pay for the procedure and just as certain that there was no way the sore on my tongue could be anything but benign. "Just wear your mouth guard; I'm sure you are chewing on your tongue in your sleep," he reassured me as he ushered me toward the exit. I went home, and I wore my mouth guard at night, but the sore got worse, not better. I started to lose weight because it hurt so bad to eat. I went back to the dentist and demanded that he give me a referral to an oral surgeon. The oral surgeon gave me the same run around when I saw her and asked her to perform the biopsy. I told her I would pay out of pocket, that I really needed the peace of mind of knowing that the sore was benign. She did the biopsy. She took a large chunk out of my tongue. She put in three st...

This is Just Another Moment, Just Another Now - A Practice As many are preparing to ring out the old, ring in the new, our practice reminds us that this, too, is just another moment in a string of nows that make up a life. No need to change anything, no need to resolve to be different, no need to add on to our natural tendency to regret, replay, relive the past or to worry about, fret over what might be ahead. Ultimately, they are all just moments; as Ram Dass said, "If you live fully in the present, [even] death is just another moment." And yet, as we turn the virtual page on our virtual calendars, we have this natural tendency to reflect and plan. We recently have begun using sankalpa (heartfelt intentions) in the public classes that I have been leading. I think that these speak nicely to this tendency that crops up this time of year - to resolve to be better. Sankalpa differ from new year's resolutions in two important ways. New year's resolutions often are st...