Value your child

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A breadcrumb trail

A new path had appeared by morning. I was still wishing for what I wanted, but miraculously, finding what I needed, on a breadcrumb trail leading to a home I never knew I'd left.
– Hand Wash Cold


I can barely contain my excitement at what I have to show you: my new home on the web. You can go there right now and find everything I've left scattered around the house: my books, my blog, loose articles, information about retreats and events, lost socks, missing buttons.

Cheerio Road has taken a turn toward home.

Please go there and bookmark it. Change your subscription to my new rss. You can still subscribe by e-mail if that's your choice. Sign up for a retreat. Add yourself to my newsletter list. Plan to see me in San Francisco, Houston or Kansas City. Come find me, come find me, come home!

10 Tips for Mindful Work

I have an article in the March issue of Shambhala Sun that's been bubbling up everywhere, and with it, my list of 10 Tips for a Mindful Home. Last week I had a message from a magazine reader asking if I had a similar list of tips for mindful work. I admitted that it had been 15 years since I'd spent 60 or more hours each week in an office, and at no time during the long stretch of my career was I anything but profoundly inattentive. Still, those days brought the dawn of a penetrating realization that my work was not the problem. Work is never the problem.

In that spirit, I offer these 10 Tips for Mindful Work, or What I Would Do Differently if I Had It All to Do Over Again:

Be on time
Self-discipline is the foundation of all success and the essence of self-respect.

Care
Work is not a distraction from your life; it is not a detour, hindrance or necessary evil. If you think this way it is the wrong view. When you are working, work is your life. Care for it as you care for yourself. As Dogen Zenji says, "If you find one thing wearisome, you will find everything wearisome."

Make a list
Start each day with a list of things to do. Control is an illusion, so wise up and keep the list short.

Forget the list
Do not mistake a list for the thing. Adapt to the flow of real events as they occur. Adaptation is innovation and innovation is genius.

Attend to what appears
What appears in front of you is the only thing there is. Respond appropriately as things arise, and crises will not overtake you.

Avoid gossip
Viruses spread. Keep your hands clean and cover your mouth.

Smile
The workplace is a theater, and the drama is make-believe. Everyone appreciates a good laugh. When you can do anything as though you work at nothing, you have the best days of your life.

Give credit
No amount of money is enough. Be generous with your kindness, courtesy and thanks. They will always be repaid.

Take the rest of the day off
Do your work, then set it down. Let others praise or blame.

Do it all over again
Rise and shine. An ancient teacher said, "A day without work is a day without eating." Take every chance to do it differently.

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I say/I mean

A fake conversation about fake conversations makes me realize who I'm talking to:

What I say/What I mean
I'm taking my time/I haven't started
Take your time/Hurry up
I have too much to do/I have one thing to do that I'm avoiding
I'm too busy/I'm wasting too much time on the computer
I didn't hear you/I'm not listening
Because I said so/Because I said so
I'm going to change/I'm not going to change
I love you/tralalalala
You're terrific/You did what I wanted
No trouble/Trouble
No worries/Worries
Not a problem/Problem
It's not your fault/It's your fault
I'm doing this for you/I'm doing this for me
You/Me
[Insert word here]/Me

More flap about butterflies

The flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil sets off a tornado in Texas – Chaos theory

Kindness doesn't cure everything, but it cures unkindness – Me

I want to leave you this week with the encouragement to spread your bitty blue wings and set something marvelous in motion. You have until Monday, Feb. 8 at midnight EST to bid at the To Haiti With Love Auction. If the thought of trolling through the auction items has you paralyzed, here are some pointers in all directions.

Being Exquisite, a fine art photographic print of desert blooms by my flowering friend Jeanette LeBlanc

Shine, a set of fine art prints from the book of the same name, by young artists at the very St. Joseph Home for children in Haiti which was destroyed in the earthquake. Can you imagine what it means to these young artists to know that their work is appreciated on the other side of the world?

Motherhood Journals by the extraordinary Tracey Clark, founder of all things lustrous including Shutter Sisters

Soul, a fine art print by the Brooklyn writer/photographer/butterfly catcher Jen Lee

Something by Someone who is throwing in Something Else, already a bargain at a third of the price

Just don't dare outbid me on this or this.

Thank you for your gale force kindness. It cures everything unkind.

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Where I'm at

To be honest, my head is still spinning, but to find out why I'm going to make you friend me on Facebook. While you're here let me tell you about the spots I'll soon be seeing before my own eyes:

Until next Monday, I'll be selling my voodoo charms over at the To Haiti With Love auction. Bid on anything there and you will reward yourself with your own infinite kindness.

On Sat., April 17 I'll be at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco for a 9 a.m.-noon workshop on "Parenting as a Spiritual Path," an incredibly intimate, practical and inspiring program on the spiritual vocation of parenthood. This occasion has been a year in the planning, and at $5 per person in advance, it will fill up fast, so call Carren Shelden at 415.749.6369 to save spots for you, your spouse or partner and all your friends. Space is limited. It is the first event at which my new book, Hand Wash Cold, will be available, and I won't let you forget it.

On Sun., May 2 I'll be launching the Kitchen Table Tour, my homemade brand of book readings for groups of friends in private homes, with a kick-off event in my own home and garden. And everyone is invited! (Note to self: Tell husband.) If you want me to come to your house, to meet your friends and hog your table, reading from Hand Wash Cold and making a big scene, just leave me a comment and tell me where you're at.

There will be more.

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On the block: my book of spells

I'm typing this with nine fingers, which is painstaking, but for the reason why you'll just have to friend me on Facebook. This temporary trouble of mine makes me yearn for the days of pen and paper, the days before you were born. There's magic spun between a pen and a piece of paper, the kind of magic that engineering just can't touch. There's divine intelligence in a fingertip, a single digit, far more than the artificial digital intelligence that enthralls us now.

That brings me to my offering in this week's To Haiti With Love auction. All the proceeds directly benefit the St. Joseph's Family of homes for children in Haiti. So give already! Who cares what you get in return?

I've put up a signed copy of Momma Zen. Big deal. You can get one of those any day of the week. But the real prize, the clincher, is what I'm tossing into the package. Hint: it's the magic between a pen and paper.

Years ago when no one was looking or asking, I wrote to myself in a blank book I kept by my bedside. When it came time to put the pieces together for Momma Zen, I was surprised to see that I had a good bit of it sitting on my nightstand waiting for me to wake up.

In the same way, when it came time to put the parts together for the new book, Hand Wash Cold, I found nearly eighty pages I'd written ten years ago and stashed away.

So this is what I'm giving the lucky winner of the ho-hum signed softcover book. A keepsake journal, the first few pages of which have in my own handwriting an excerpt of Hand Wash Cold, chosen especially for its wizardly power to inspire you to fill the rest of the book with . . . what, exactly? That's for you to conjure up out of thin air.

Unleash your powers! Go to the auction site and give yourself over to magical thinking. The dollars are insignificant. The magic is what we send To Haiti With Love.

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