Dear Friends, I was on a flight last week and there was a TON of turbulence. Every time the plane swerved and dropped, I white knuckled the hand rests a little bit tighter, bracing every inch of my body against the movements of the plane. I was praying like a maniac (and probably cursing in equal measure), and my breath had become quick and shallow. Then I remembered the last time I breathed like that. It was when I delivered my first son. Having been a meditator — a professional breather —...
11 days ago • 3 min read
Dear Friends, I came across this short video reel on Instagram and it really moved me. It features a woman who is ordering off the menu at the restaurant of the Universe. She orders French Fries, because that is the only thing on the menu, but then she catches sight of another woman at the restaurant eating pasta. "How did you get that?" She asks the other woman. "That was not on the menu!" "You can order whatever you want," The second woman responds. "You don't have to just order what's on...
19 days ago • 3 min read
Dear Friends, Spring is right around the corner for us in colder climates, even though I'm writing this to you swaddled in a heavy coat on my back deck. Sooo close, but not quite here yet. To help you get excited, I put together a bunch of things that I'm enjoying right nowthat feel springy. What I'm Reading I usually read fiction and non-fiction together, and go back and forth, depending on my mood. For fiction, I'm currently reading The Second Chance Year, by Melissa Wiesner. It has the...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Dear Friends, For a long time, I felt like there was a problem with me. While so many people seemed happily coupled, I found myself in "situationship" after "situationship," dating unavailable men, longing for something real, and yet incapable of finding it. Plenty of available guys liked me, but I was never interested in them, even though I really tried to be. I related to the Buddhist concept of a hungry ghost -- a being with a huge, extended belly, desperately hungry, and a teeny tiny...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Dear Friends, Knocking on the door of 40, my life looked from the outside like everything I had ever wanted. An amazing husband. Two hilarious and adorable little kids. A senior role leading spiritual life at NYU. And yet, I also had a creeping, bone-deep misery I could not explain or shake. The excitement and the joy had quietly drained out of my life, replaced by obligations, exhaustion, and the hum of ever-present anxiety. So I went looking for my long-lost joy. I discovered, with the help...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Friends, Flourish - my transformative 12-week Jewish mindfulness immersion and certification program starts this Tuesday, March 10, and I wanted to write to you directly before the door closes. If you've been on the fence, I understand. Life is full. Money is real. And you may have wondered: is this really for someone like me? I've spent the last few weeks talking to people just like you with lots of questions like this. Let me answer them: "I don't have 5–7 hours a week." I hear this a...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Friends, Did you know that a caterpillar becomes a butterfly by digesting itself inside its cocoon, dissolving its entire structure and becoming goo. This goo is filled with "imaginal discs" that later become the component parts of a butterfly. You can read all about it here and watch it happen here: Wow. So many parts of this process resonate with every major life transition I've ever had. The old thing has to dissolve - often painfully - to make way for the new. The in-between time is...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Friends, I have become a major fan of Olympic Gold Medal-winning figure skater Alysa Liu. After becoming a phenom at 13, enduring a punishing, medal-focused training schedule, she dropped out of skating at 16. She traveled the world, played other sports, went to college, and got herself back. Then she decided to return — but on her own terms, with new coaches and a new system in which she held the reins: "She has been much more engaged in the process of creating the program from...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Dear Friends, In my latest conversation in my Desire & Dharma series, the brilliant Adreanna Limbach tells me about the moment that found her clutching the kitchen counter and group chatting her friends in excitement after seeing a certain very sexy movie trailer. We talk about the pleasures and joys of desire and the possibility that we’re already whole, even while wanting more. Rather than making desire the enemy, this conversation is a curious inquiry into what our wanting is trying to...
3 months ago • 2 min read