Dear Friends, Uuuuh, happy springtime, from Wattle Hollow. I have often been greeted with big loving hugs, and then, immediately: What are you doing here? You haven’t sent the final Tales From Thailand yet. True. I wake up every morning, wondering and hoping Will this be the day I finish up the Tales? Read more…. CLICK HERE to view/download the full newsletter (pdf) Tales from Thailand #7 And SCROLL DOWN for a treat of imagery...
Read MoreHello again, dear readers. I have a tricky topic to entertain this time: Saints. They seem to come in all shapes and sizes. I probably miss quite a few of them, because of my busy, windy” mind. But still, I can describe a few that I met last week, at the “Inner Dimensions of Climate Change” Global Youth Conference at S.D.S. Forty young eco-activists came from all over Asia and the Pacific islands to support each other and examine the...
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As promised, dear readers, I’ll begin this Tale with my six days at a rural orphanage outside of Kanchanaburi, in western Thailand. I’ve been away for four years, and I was quite pleasantly surprised to see the changes: Some of you may remember my concerns about the martial punishment which was practiced daily, especially as meted out by a couple whom I called “Mr and Mrs. Meany.” I even asked my Thai friend to translate a letter to...
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Hundreds of retreatants, ninety percent of them women, climb up here to the roof on Saturdays and holidays, at the end of a long slow-walking meditation. The entire roof is a tribute to a Mongolian/Tibetan deity named Green Tara. My teacher, Maechee Sansanee, installed this naked-breasted goddess ten years ago. In Thailand, an extremely conservative group of monks hold the reins, as in most of Asia. Or as in most of the world’s...
Read MoreHello again, dear readers. Here I am again, at the climax of my perennial Hit Parade song: Happy birthday to you-ou-ou… Happy birthday to me-e-e-e… Every day we are born, And every day we are free-e-e-e.. Except, it was my actual birthday that evening, having completed seventy-one revolutions around the sun, counting the first year. And I have added a little component this year: after Every day we are born, I now tuck in the line, And...
Read MoreI’ll have to choose two among the myriad magical events last week. Both will relate to the great circle of human life, its beginnings and endings. This has been Khun Mae’s (Maechee Sansanee’s) focus for the past decade. Last Sunday (and the first Sunday of every month, for many years), the Serene Mind Project happened again: Many dozens of couples arrive in the morning. All of the women are pregnant. Everyone is encouraged to pay...
Read MoreHello again, dears. Thank you for your best wishes and your interest in my journey. I myself haven’t more than a vague clue about what will be unfolding here. But all of my adventures seem to be grooming me for the same life lessons: 1. Nothing, nothing (!) is ever awry. 2. Be patient (5555**) and alert 3. Keep an open and refreshed heart, known here in Thailand as “jai yen.” (cool heart) I don’t need to go charging toward my goals...
Read MoreGreetings, dear readers. Thanks for joining me on this journey. Some of you are new readers, and some may remember my last Tales From Thailand, 2014. But very few folks know the context of this return to Thailand, four winters later: Four years ago, I asked my spiritual teacher and guide, Anna Cox, a question. . . “What is going on with this child? I love so many children at the orphanage, but she seems to have stolen my heart in a...
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Wattle Hollow is a relatively small retreat center (40 acres of woodlands on a mountainside in Northwest Arkansas) with capacity for 20 - 25 folks.