May I cherish each day, knowing that the number of those days is beyond my control. I learned from Rumi to embrace it all, though, and I truly do. Gratitude flows through me from the first playful wags of my dog’s tail as soon as I open my eyes till the last kiss at night.

Dear Visitor, Reviewing the statistics for this blog, I’ve found that more than 94,000 have visited since I began it. You–visitors from many states and countries–are my community, my fellow travelers on this journey of developing our spiritual lives as deeply as we can, and of trying to make a difference on this planet through […]

Death has become impossible to ignore. Three close relatives, two friends, the spouse of an old friend–all gone before their time just this year. The Persian poet Rumi said “Don’t worry old earth, you’ll get your sweet morsel soon.” He was fearless about dying, and tried to give his followers comfort by letting them know […]

May the beauty around us get our full attention. As Alice Walker says, the only thing that angers God is if we “pass the color purple in a filed and don’t notice.” May you find comfort and moments of beauty in this precious day, dear visitor. As usual, I ask your help in contacting veterans anywhere who may need my counseling services, and I invite other therapists to provide sliding scale skilled help to those who have served us Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rumi has been compared to the saints and masters of every spiritual path, and no one else has inspired such profound and intimate love in people of every religious orientation. Among his tens of thousands of heart-piercing verses, all who seek more sense of the divine in their lives find many jewels.

The author remembers her mother on the anniversary of her death. Poems by Rumi and Mary Oliver bring comfort and inspiration to us all. Rumi says, “When I die, don’t say she’s gone….” and Mary Oliver says, ….”When it’s over, I want to say ‘All my life I was a bride married to amazement…’ “

Here are more beautiful words from Rumi: One morning I went to a place beyond dawn, a source of sweetness that flows and is never less. I have been shown a beauty beyond immagining.