“Won’t you be my neighbor?”

— Fred Rogers

Family Weekend at the University of Iowa last weekend was a great success! Eight of us from Havia’s family descended upon her in Iowa City, where she was happy to play the part of tour guide, showing us her favorite places on and off campus. We were also introduced to some personal traditions of my brother and cousin for Iowa football games for the last 19 years. We all decked out in our black and gold, enjoyed the chilly air, and went to the Hawkeye vs Minnesota game. (Iowa won big, so that was fun!)

One University of Iowa tradition we got to participate in was recently ranked number one college stadium tradition by USA Today: The Hawkeye Wave.

At the end of the fourth quarter, 70,000+ fans, players, and students turn around to wave at the pediatric patients at the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital, located just behind the stadium. Both teams’ players stand on the field together, waving at the kids. Both sides of the stadium,...

"Practice is not about escaping life—it's about meeting it fully."

Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness. 

As I sit in the front room of my house, on my big comfy red chair, with my precious red heeler, Lila, sleeping on her ottoman and ignoring the view of her outside domain, I am so touched. The evening sun is lighting up the bushes and trees outside in such a lovely autumnal glow. I have some instrumental guitar music playing on Spotify, supporting my creative endeavor of writing something that matters. Or at least doesn’t suck. 

I’m basking in a moment like this, because it feels hard earned. I’ve been driven and goal-oriented since my youth, and contentment does not come naturally. 

I first learned about contentment, or santosha in Sanskrit, in yoga teacher training back in New York City, 2004, which was probably the most competitive era of my life. Just hearing about santosha, which is one of the inner practices of yoga (niyama), spark...