Sunday, March 31, 2013

book description





Meditation isn’t for everyone. It’s true. As a neurologist who specializes in brain injury and stroke rehabilitation, I can assure you. Half of my patients are too confused or too disoriented to meditate. They’d forget the instructions as soon as I finished giving them. And the other half are too distractible. Their attention spans are so short they can’t sit still, much less sit still and meditate, for more than a few minutes at a time. I’m not exaggerating when I say that a formal meditation practice is beyond the reach of virtually every person I treat. It’s too complex. My patients need something simpler. That’s what this small book is about.

mardi gras costume, 1954

photo courtesy patsy blanchard

invisible mockingbird




I started the group with a pot of tea, a charming coconut oolong. I said, “Today I’m going to teach you how to notice. Today we’re going to practice noticing.” Then we practiced seeing and hearing and touching and smelling and tasting the tea. 

Sunday, March 24, 2013

the joke's on you


This guy at the gay Starbucks was walking around saying, "A baby seal walks into a bar."

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Thursday, March 21, 2013

shopping for barbie clothes

photo: jetheriot


I'm speaking at the Alamo Brain Injury Symposium in San Antonio tomorrow. It's about cognitive prosthetics, so I figured I'd bring my four-foot one-legged Barbie as a prop. She'll look great from a distance, and her one-leggedness will serve as a useful aid to illustrate the central point of my talk. Only problem: she's naked! Now I'm off to buy her some clothes. Do I take her in to try the clothes on before I buy? Do I need to use a dressing room? If so, male or female dressing room?

snow in catahoula, 1973

photo courtesy allen theriot

Sunday, March 17, 2013

the opposite of exotic

photo: jetheriot

The opposite of exotic, peacefulness is more like a sparrow, as near to us as our breath, our lips, if only we would notice.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

peacefulness takes practice

photo: jetheriot

the wisdom of anxiety


Like all emotions, anxiety has two aspects: confusion and wisdom. Working with anxiety, leaning into it instead of away from it, you can learn to discover the wisdom it offers.

Monday, March 11, 2013

menil park

photo: timothy frederick

the goddesses

Sunday, March 10, 2013

picture catahoula

photo: jackie theriot

My cousin Karen and I are starting a new project. Our plan is to collect as many photographs of Catahoula as we can find, make high-resolution scans of those photographs, and upload them to a permanent on-line archive for all to enjoy.