The deciduous trees are beautiful in their summer emerald glory, in the resplendent autumn dying of their leaves as sunlight fades, but even in their woody, fractal branching whose barrenness implies the eventual return of the light.

The wise one wears simple clothes, but carries a jewel in his heart. —Lao Tzu

Resting in the awareness of experiencing— of seeing, hearing, smelling, sensing, feeling, and thinking— can be one of life’s most sublime experiences.

I consider myself a child of the Enlightenment, which means that I am passionate and serious about ever improving my knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and ability to think clearly.

May you be happy and at peace. 🙏

Confidence is knowing that you can. Arrogance is thinking you’re more worthy because you can.

No matter how fast the world appears to be going, it is always possible to slow the mind down, keep it steady, and respond rather than react. It is a far more serene, dignified, and effective way to live, I can assure you.

Cultivate empathy.

What most people need is a good listening to. I’m listening.

I have come to appreciate the value of struggle over the years. Too little, and character withers, too much, and we are destroyed, but there is a broad space between that offers the opportunity to become better versions of ourselves.

Wisdom lies beyond hope and despair.

You’re never starting over; you’re always starting where you are.

That we should take care of each other seems to have become a radical and subversive notion.

Nothing reveals more about the nature of our universe than the existence and nature of life.

Jane Goodall has long been someone with whom I resonate deeply. She was a scientist committed to understanding Nature on its own terms, and inseparable from her curiosity and intellectual integrity was a deep sense of love, awe, respect, and wonder for this mysterious, beautiful, terrible world.

Whether any particular field, or particular line of research within a field is of practical value, however defined, is not as important as the general culture of curiosity, inquiry, learning, and debate that a vibrant academic and intellectual life creates. (1/2)

Fresh haircut, new shades. Ready for the warmer weather.

If your definition of progress casts empathy as a weakness and a liability, it is no definition I would ever accept. It’s all will and good to gain more control over illness, hunger, and exposure to the elements, but human life, from my perspective, is less about comforts, pleasures, amusements,

I seek the darkness to let it see that someone loves it, too.

I’m slow. I read slowly. I think slowly. I walk slowly. I cut vegetables slowly. And you know what? I love being slow.

Arthur Schopenhauer, a 19th-century philosopher, was deeply fascinated by Eastern philosophy and spirituality. He has a beautiful quote that aptly captures what I myself have discovered in my 30 years of Zen practice: "that peace that is higher than all reason, that ocean-like calmness of spirit,

“Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

Even though it’s inevitable, I feel as if I’m not ready to grow up, yet. —My older son, age 15

I think the two words that could most succinctly summarize our current era are: Too Much.

Perhaps it sounds crazy, but the deeper our world descends into crisis, the softer my heart gets for us all. I know from my studies and my lived experience how hard it is to be human, and how easy it is for us to lose our way. ♥️

Medicine is my profession, but I sure do love my hobby. That’s the back seat of my car! 🤓

wanted to cut and run. Whatever I have been able to give to the vulnerable community I serve, I have received a hundredfold in return. The medicine has often been bitter, but it has been good medicine for the soul, nevertheless.

Sometimes it takes a dire threat to what we hold dear to help us see just how important it is, and our appreciation for it deepens when we fight for it, tooth and nail.

When your greed knows no limits, you don’t want any limits put on your greed.

I may not worry about the same things you worry about, but I know what it is to worry. I may not get angry about the same things you get angry about, but I know what it is to be angry. I may not love the same things or the same people, but I know what it is to love.

Determining where mathematics ends and science begins is as difficult, and as pointless, as mapping the edge of a morning mist. —Peter Atkins, Galileo’s Finger

A couple of things I notice that keep me highly resistant to despair are that one, I fully expect human life to be full of crises at all scales; it's "baked in," so to speak, and there is no march of progress that will get us past our follies or the vicissitudes of life.

It was a gorgeous spring day in Oregon.

People who can't handle criticism are unfit to lead. Weak leaders fear dissent as a threat to their power. They silence their critics to shield their egos. Strong leaders welcome dissent as an opportunity for growth. They silence their egos to learn from their critics. —Adam Grant

Sometimes I’m not sure how much I really care versus feeling a duty to act as though I care. Which is another way to care, I guess. How strange, human nature.

It’s not about how the world meets you. It’s about how you meet the world.

May the tide never tire of its tender toil how over and over it forgives the Moon the daily exile and returns to turn mountains into sand          as if to say, you too can have this homecoming you too possess this elemental power of turning the stone in the heart into golden dust. --Maria Popova

My father called it "creating your own eddy in the stream." To create a protected countercurrent to the roaring currents of the vast world. He stressed its fundamental importance, and it was advice I took to heart.

Words cannot describe everything. The heart's message cannot be delivered in words. —Mumon

That our universe seems knowable to a considerable degree yet also an unfathomable mystery is by turns astonishing and exasperating.

I'm one of those souls. One who, when traveling down a lonely highway and came across an unmarked road that led off into the desert, or plains, or forest, could not resist the urge to turn onto it just to see where it led.

Our source is unknowable An endless river through a vast and fertile valley, Silent —Lao Tzu

Determining where mathematics ends and science begins is as difficult, and pointless, as mapping the edge of a morning mist. —Peter Atkins, Galileo’s Finger

No happiness can come from struggling against the truth. —Pëma Chödron, Coming Closer to Ourselves

May all beings be safe. May all beings be happy. May all beings be healthy. May all beings be free from suffering. 🙏

Looking into my bowl of rice, I see clearly that this food is the gift of the earth and the sky. I see the rice field, the vegetable farmer, the sunshine, rain, manure, and the hard work of the farmer. —Thich Nhat Hanh