Contributing Writer, Author at The Mindful Word

LIFE LESSONS: When the student is ready the teacher will appear

Contributing Writer·May 8, 2015

LIFE LESSONS: When the student is ready the teacher appears As I look back on my life I find I have never been without teachers. The teachers were not always people and I did not always enjoy or understand the lessons but I really get now that I could not go on to the next lesson until the one I was experiencing was complete.

Doctor with stethoscope around neck stuffing money in pocket

THE OZ EFFECT: Hypocritical taker of the Hippocratic Oath

Contributing Writer·May 1, 2015

THE OZ EFFECT: Hypocritical taker of the Hippocratic Oath. Recently on NPR, Robert Seigel asked Michael Specter, a staff writer from the New Yorker, who he would bet on to win: Dr. Oz or the physicians who have raised a petition against his position at Columbia University. Specter answered in a heartbeat: “Oz, sorry to say.”

Female tick - Ixodes ricinus - sitting on a green leaf

TICK-TOCK: Lyme disease patients are tired of waiting

Contributing Writer·April 28, 2015

TICK-TOCK: Lyme disease patients are tired of waiting With pickets raised and candles lit, Lyme disease patients and advocates stood in front of The New York Times building in New York City for a silent vigil on September 17, 2014.

Purpose road sing on dark starry background

DISCOVERING YOUR PURPOSE: Live a life of joy, love and fulfillment

Contributing Writer·April 27, 2015

DISCOVERING YOUR PURPOSE: Live a life of joy, love and fulfillment There is, without a doubt, a purpose for your life. There is a reason why you are here. There are things you were meant to do and be in this lifetime. You are connected with everyone and everything that has stood for that purpose that has ever been or ever will be.

Woman with magnifying glass looking at three men standing on table

PREFERENCES: The difference between our being happy or unhappy

Contributing Writer·April 20, 2015

PREFERENCES: Learning to live in the moment Every day, in each moment, the universe is giving us something. The difference between our being happy or unhappy is that we have preferences. The world offers pain and pleasure, joy and sadness

THE INNER MATRIX: Relationships and transforming your life

Contributing Writer·April 15, 2015

Excerpt from Chapter 1 of The Inner Matrix: A Guide to Transforming Your Life and Awakening Your Spirit, by Joey...

ENLIGHTENMENT INTENSIVE: Who are you and what is life?

Contributing Writer·April 7, 2015

ENLIGHTENMENT INTENSIVE: You had to have been there I was invited by a friend to attend a weekend workshop to be held at a retreat center in the woods north of Toronto. The workshop was called Enlightenment Intensive.

FLOWERWOMAN: Magic words surrounded by petals

Contributing Writer·April 3, 2015

FLOWERWOMAN: Life thoughts surrounded by petals She runs a 24-hour flower shop in some lane in Montreal. It has a narrow entrance, but is long within. It is 2am and the light from her shop creates a luminous section of pavement, white and glaring.

Art - android sitting in lotus position surround by psychedelic images

SHAMANIC HEALING: Opening the mind’s eye

Contributing Writer·March 31, 2015

SHAMANIC HEALING: Opening the mind’s eye In November of 2009 I spent ten days in a Peruvian jungle where I took part in a series of four ceremonies in which over 40 people drank Ayahuasca, a tea made from a plant used by the shamans of South America.

Man sitting alone on a rock, staring at the sea

NUDE BY NATURE: Living naturally without clothes

Contributing Writer·March 25, 2015

BARELY THERE: Living naturally without clothes My family and my very close friends well know my decades-long relationship to clothes—I am not a comfortable carrier of textiles. The moment my feet enter my door, the clothes disappear. I am comfortable in my skin, wrinkles, imperfections and all.

HOMAGE TO THE SAHARA: Much more than just sand dunes and desert

Contributing Writer·March 24, 2015

Hollywood had taught me to think of the Sahara as an immense waste of endless sand dunes, unbearably hot by...

AWAKE MY SOUL: The language of music

Contributing Writer·March 20, 2015

AWAKE MY SOUL: The language of music Everyone knows music is beautiful. My mother tried to explain this to me when she closed her eyes and air-conducted to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy and I sat, bored, picking the thread out of the cushion on the sofa, thinking of how my book ended.

SKEPTICISM: Question everything and transform your life

Contributing Writer·March 18, 2015

SKEPTICISM: Question everything and transform your life I believe most people do not know or appreciate what the word “skeptic” really means. The common vernacular has a connotation of cynicism and predisposition toward pessimism. Even the word ‘doubt’ has been given a bad rap.

THE TAO OF SHANGRI-LA: Learning social enterprise from nomads and monks

Contributing Writer·March 16, 2015

The following is an excerpt from Laurence J. Brahm’s book Fusion Economics: How Pragmatism is Changing the World. The China...

ACCESSING THE SPACE WITHIN: A guided relaxation meditation to come to stillness

Contributing Writer·March 14, 2015

Through stillness, you can access what is unconscious and bring it to the surface. You can watch your mind with...

Sherlock Holmes with magnifying glass - free will, philosophy, existentialism, choice

FREE WILL: It’s existential, my dear Watson

Contributing Writer·March 11, 2015

The original quote from Sherlock Holmes of course was “It’s elementary, my dear Watson.” I use this play on words...

REAL FRIENDSHIP: Set free by the spiritual calling within us

Contributing Writer·February 27, 2015

Here we are in a new year, 2015. Over the holidays I was vividly aware of the true message that...

CONSCIOUS EVOLUTION: Awakening the power of our social potential

Contributing Writer·February 25, 2015

Conscious evolution is a “mother” meme, calling together individual memes that hold information for creating new communications, arts, sciences, education,...

MY MAMA KISSED A COCKROACH: Freedom of choice and compassion

Contributing Writer·February 22, 2015

Choice is a cornerstone of American society. The songs my classmates and I learned in grade school heralded freedom of...

BE A SUPER PERFORMER: Master the art of behavioural change

Contributing Writer·February 14, 2015

“I’m going to work out three to four days a week… I’m going to eat better.. I’m going to lose weight.” Whether...

REDISCOVERING SACRED CREATIVITY: How artists help create a more healthy, inspired and connected world

Contributing Writer·January 29, 2015

Bass frequencies from a massive sound system pulse in my body and seem to shake the concrete walls of a...

WALKING MEDITATION: Walk your way to mindfulness

Contributing Writer·January 28, 2015

A few months ago, the BBC did a piece on the death of “purposeless walking.” Many famous thinkers were walkers,...

NONDUALITY AND THE ALLURE OF THE ABSOLUTE: Instead of sitting to solve your life, sit to witness it

Contributing Writer·January 22, 2015

Zen craves the truth. We practice to know our original nature—to reconcile ourselves with the absolute. We hold in our...

MINDFUL FROM 9-5: Four ways to work mindfully

Contributing Writer·January 20, 2015

As members of the working world, you know firsthand that every job comes with its share of stress, but it’s...

COMMUNICATION, PRESENCE AND RECONNECTION: 3 ways to bring mindfulness into your relationship

THE MORNING I STOPPED TURNING AGAINST MYSELF: Saying goodbye to my inner critic

WHEN MINDFULNESS TURNS INTO MONITORING: And how I found my way back

POEMS BY JIM JOHNSTON: For Larry, Tracks and more

TSYPL: The best—and most mindful—stock to invest in right now

POEMS BY GEORGE PAYNE: Sturgeon Moon, That Morning In Athens and more

MINDFUL LEADERSHIP IN STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS: Empowering leaders to create positive change

HANAMI DREAMING: The start of spring in Japan

REFLECTIONS ON TODAY’S POLITICAL REALITIES: We can prevail over ignorance, lies and Trump

IMPEDIMENTS FACED: A safe return home from La Paz, Mexico

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS: One last—and glorious—day in La Paz, Mexico [Part 7]

NIGHT SEA JOURNEY: Buying back sanity in La Paz, Mexico [Part 6]