by Ivan Guarderrama

I've studied spirituality for umpteen years. My library has scads of spiritual books; I could go to college again with the money I've spent taking multitudes of workshops, seminars and retreats. Plus, I now have two prayer partners and we talk about...

Actually, at the moment, I have two big heroes - they are two of my friends

who are facing cancer with such equanimity, courage and a positive attitude,

it completely blows my mind! I know that there are scads of others who show

these same qualities when faced with a l...

I can have an ego as big as a lion.

I can have a swelled head that rivals

The King of the Jungle!

I don't know about you, but I can have real problems with my ego.

Now, as we go on here, I'm going to expand this term beyond the

typical way people think of "ego". Like in: "...

Artist: Paris Wyatt Llanson

By now you probably think I'm some kind of spiritual nut! But, quite

honestly, it's just a part of who I am. Not in a religious kind of way - in

fact, 

I stopped going to church immediately after getting confirmed, 

which I think was around 14....

"The man who views the world 

at 50 the same as he did at 20 

has wasted 30 years of his life."

-Muhammad Ali

Me Making Progress...

The Non-Athletic One Scaling What Felt Like Mt. Everest!

Ah, the wisdom of Ali always astounds me. How frequently we

get stuck in our own...

This past week I saw the documentary,

"Won't You Be My Neighbor?" It is about Mr. Rogers 

personality and his popular TV show.

I know the film received good reviews and with good

reason. It was quite well made. BUT I still found myself

practically 

gagging over the schmalt...

Most of the time I'm upbeat about everything in life...

But other times, I'm a real downer,

anticipating the worst in every situation.

When I'm feeling like Charlie Brown in this picture, I try to remember

that success isn't forever and failure isn't fatal.

Putting a halt...

I had two heart rending cries, complete with sobs, about the immigrant

children and their parents this past week. 

My unexpected sorrow

shocked me with its intensity. Whenever I try to 

feel and express my 

grief, as I did a few days ago, it invariably 

manifests as a clear...

With the recent deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, I

thought 

I should speak out about depression and my own struggles with it. 

More than anything, I hope that if you're depressed, suicidal

or dealing with a family member who is suffering, you will find some

comfo...

I'm an aspiring angel...

but surely have fallen far from the mark.

I'm hardly alone. In fact, there doubtless

are many who fall into my category.

Well intentioned, but having a long way to go!

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines an Angel as: 

a spiritual being superior to...