I am so grateful for your post and meditation. My dad just died this morning. After I talked to my kids and my sister I checked my email and saw your post and meditated.
Dad was 90 years old, he had an terrific life. He was the fourth son of immigrant parents. He lost his mother at age 9 and spent some time in an orphanage because his Dad couldn't work and care for four boys. His language skills were pretty bad. Somehow he succeeded. I think he learned how to sample the universe fully. He saw the beauty in nature, birds, hiking, sailing,
growing vegetables, he played violin, he loved all sorts of music, he could fix things, he could build things, he had four kids, he had a wife, my mother, he loved all kinds of food, traveled a lot, taught us to wrestle in the living room, toured the countryside on his bicycle. He was spiritual but not dogmatic. He was different from other guys but was never bothered by that or afraid to try new things. On his 70th birthday he was on the ice in Presque Isle Bay on Lake Erie ice boating. He made wine. Maybe he is an angel now. Thank you Dad for setting a great example.
Thank you Jeff for teaching your boys to wrestle and showing them that sampling the good things in life is the way to go. I now feel like I'm floating while still feeling grounded. Grieving with gratitude, Elizabeth, Lisa, Erickson, Sorek, Lasted
Elizabeth, I’m sorry for your loss, and what a tremendous human being. Definitely a model for Dad Hood. I love how you talk about him. What a lineage. So appreciate everything you’ve written here.
Elizabeth, This is a lovely tribute to your dad and the life he lived. It sounds like he was a wonderful person who didn't lose sight of life's simple pleasures, despite the challenges when he was young. I am sorry for your loss. Tamar
Hi Big J .. your timing is once again ‘on point’ …I have a Non Hodgkin Lymphoma ( Blood Cancer) in my small Bowel as it is ‘Follicular’ it is not curable but a good shot is remission!
Anyway, you’re my no.1 Meds …I’ve recently completed latest rounds of Chemo ( not very nice and certainly tricky on the humour side !) and a week ago I finished Radiation therapy ..it’s gotta be good because the ‘side dishes’ are crap !
Anyway I digress, I have listened to you for years ( well it feels like years 😉) fed up still paying Calm an annual membership just to listen to you 😂😂.
No seriously along with my amazing wife of 38 years and two adult children ..love them to death ( excuse the pun in this case 🫤) your next …I could put you first as they won’t read this, but I have a conscience …what if there is a heaven ?
Your words genuinely make my pain ease, make me smile and feel a level of happiness ( that you really don’t deserve …oh go on then ! I look forward to each Sunday when you post and have sat here tonight in the U.K. and felt so moved and so good, and agree soundly with all you say …but most of all it gives me a sense of love for this amazing World and all of our hang ups …so bless you Big J.
That’s it, I have a group of over 100 I support and teach being Mindful with a class of about 20-25 for an hour each Wednesday lunch time on Teams (Zoom ) when I’m up to it and the will is there.
Go easy my old friend …if anything cures this awful thing it might just be you …is there a song there somewhere xx
Thanks Geoff! Ouch though - wishing you all the best with the chemotherapy. My friend kelly kelbel has a bunch of meditations, called the chemo sessions somewhere on Substack, might be worth an investigation. I’m planning to write a post about her soon.
Love that you’re supporting all those folks with your mindful zoom sessions. Thank you for that!!
This meditation hit the spot for me today. The neurons were a little worked up when I sat down for this, so it took a while to settle. But there was this interesting change moment when Jeff suggested “zooming back” a little, getting delicate, and focusing on the stillness in the body. That focus on the stillness in my body seemed to have opened up the door for some settling to seep in.
Does anybody else get the experience that I do in which I know I’ve started to settle (at least intermittently, as it never seems to last) when I seem to lose track of a sense of time for a few seconds? It may only be a second or two, but it can feel like a deep hole in the space/time continuum! It’s almost like this beautiful relief state, and almost sort of refreshing? Anyway, I digress…
When Jeff was talking about healing, and how we can look at it as almost like a loosening of the rigid in our systems, I had this parallel forming in my mind. Maybe it’s because I’m going through it right now for a physical injury, but I started thinking of meditation (and other healing modalities) as PT for the brain, in which we’re sort of using all kinds of modalities (strengthening, stretching, mobility, balance, heat, ice) to get in there and break down scar tissue so we can rebuild the healthy stuff!
I am walking away from today’s meditation feeling relieved and liberated in a way by the ideas that there is no “magic” blueprint. There is no “one way” to healing. There is no silver bullet. Rather, we are sort of cumulatively building, layer upon layer. (I like the image of peeling back layers and then re-applying them in a healthier form.)
In the case of meditation’s contribution, it feels like to me that those magic moments of settledness (so so so fleeting for me), when the silence and simplicity really seem to “connect”, that’s when the good stuff feels like it starts to seep down into the cracks or crevasses for me… I have this visualization in my head of this sticky, gooey, nourishing, sort of coating, seeping down and covering the rough spots that need healing….a “Gorilla Glue” of sorts….Jeff Glue.
There’s a business idea for you Jeff. “Jeff Balm” to soothe the tortured soul (and hands!)
Also, looking forward to Wednesday night in The Lounge!
Hey Jeff, I would argue that this crowd did not stopped believing that any one practitioner or modality will finally heal us.
As, most us with an affinity taste towards irreverent gurus as soul healers and solace givers, are hapilly following the words and sayings of one.
And also self treat in the existing provincial populational medical system.
In my case, being just another Provençal, I replaced the brewed variety of your touted communal temple libations with solitary self administration of curded mammalian secretions.
From different species, because I am kinky .
Or because I am not ?! ... hmm..
I was never sure what's the criteria for the age swap threshold, a confusing arbitrary societal rule... anyway...
With a permanent cheese stash that could bankrupt a small dairy farm, ( it did me) I consider fromagère to be a personality trait .
As a dairy curd-obsessed fiend I can be found in front of my fridge, muttering my mantra, “Life’s too short for processed slices.”
Of course, as advised and consistently reminded, with poise and grace.
I maintain my open invitation to preaching the gospel of melted soft rind cheese while sniffing a wedge like it is delicate flower, at neighbouring Atwater market in Montréal.
Or, depending on the bacterial strain and cave conditions , like a butt.
Dear Jeff, I haven't meditated since my Mum passed on 19th January this year and today after wine 🍷 tasting with my Dad 4 months on I found myself wanting to meditate. Many many many tastings later a little tipsy I decided to give it a go and like all good muscle memory shortly afterwards I found myself knee deep in a glorious meditative state. Thankyou Jeff it's wonderful to be back. Aussie Lea xx
Hi Jeff. Like you, the universe of practices I've 'tried 'n cried' through over several decades rivals the Marvel Multiverse. From all that we try on for size, though, we can indeed receive snippets of healing along with lessons from our blundering about. I've been FREAKING AWESOME at the blundering about part, driven by my 'neuro diverse, pick-an-alphabet label brain'. Now, I'm modestly improving in the lessons learned and compassionately-applied part. Mindfulness and meditation as my bedrock practices, are the key reasons why. Also, the Lounge sounds great and I'm in for at least one per week. Thanks for all you, and your team, do. M.
He was pretty misogynist as authors go, but I’m forever amused that Charles Bukowski had “Don’t try” etched on his tombstone. Considering the myriad forces both internal and external demanding that we maximize our time and energies to meet some fleeting criteria, it’s not the worse mantra.
Boy can I ever relate, Jeff. Thanks for bringing it up as I’ve never given conscious thought to it.
I am 76 and my ‘journey’ started about 54 years ago. Or maybe earlier when I rejected formal religion as the folks didn’t seem present or open (?)😬😬.
My first psychiatrist turned me on to the Bhagwan rajneeshi books when I seemed to become depressed after the birth of my first child (he is 54 now)…I sort of got it but didn’t get it, and on it went. ❤️❤️❤️😬
This hit home for me, I had a recent conflict with a friend of 30 yrs. She couldn’t understand why I can’t turn off certain behaviors if I’m aware they happen..I wish I knew the answer..practice, practice, lifelong practice..
Hi Stefani. So often in life, there can be people around us or in our close orbits who are so uncomfortable with OUR discomforts that they feel the need to tell us not to feel a certain way, not to think about things in this or that way, and my personal favorite, "focus on the positive." One of the things I learned from my husband that he loves to say from his many years in AA is that you don't go to the hardware store for oranges. :). Some people just can't give us what we need, and it's usually a good idea to shop for those particular needs elsewhere. xoxo. Richard
Sometimes I really struggle to get back to Homebase! This is one of these days. So many thoughts swirling around. I think I’ll make “let everything come to me” my mantra for this week though.
Jeff, thank you for gently guiding us into sitting in spacious stillness. I feel so wonderfully calm.
As I've stumbled my way into a meditation practice over the past ten years, I repeatedly experienced relief followed by disappointment with the various guides I thought would teach me the way. Perhaps I was searching for the perfect fit, perhaps I wasn't quite ready for what each guide was offering me, perhaps what they offered required a sameness that didn't feel comfortable. But I kept showing up for myself. And I finally stumbled across your meditations. What a revelation for me! Gentleness, humor, flexibility, honesty. What I learned is that it isn't enough to be ready to listen -- we open up to the voice and the thoughts that resonate. So tonight my expression of gratitude is to you. Tamar
"In other words, visiting healers is a practice, much like meditation is a practice. We don’t expect to meditate once and have perfect mental health. The same goes for these other modalities."
I only started realizing this recently in the past couple of years. I'd struggled with chronic physical health issues for over 14 years, I'd try one thing and when it didn't work I'd spiral into depression. Only after realizing it's probably a combination of things and me trying various physical and mental exercises and healing modalities did I start to feel alive again. One of those being your Daily Trip meditations which I've been doing on and off for over 6 years now. You're the only down to earth and realistic meditation teacher I've been able to listen to (that doesn't trigger one of my many mental health conditions). So thank you for all your work Jeff!
This is so timely. "visiting healers is practice" we return again and again BECAUSE it is practice. This is exactly how I feel about the work that I do helping writers (and now wellness practitioners) use writing as a tool, as a mirror vs a means to an end. For me, the tool that I help folks use to investigate themselves is reflective writing, rereading, looking at patterns and data. It is a practice. I feel like I can't stop saying those words! It is practice, it is practice. I have so many different practitioners in my life and they all offer me something different and specific. And really, it's like life. We surround ourselves with people who metaphorically tether themselves to one area of the self where we want to grow. More often than not they aren't experts in that area, but they are just two steps ahead which is just enough to lovingly turn around and offer you a hand. Love this post and thank you!
I am so grateful for your post and meditation. My dad just died this morning. After I talked to my kids and my sister I checked my email and saw your post and meditated.
Dad was 90 years old, he had an terrific life. He was the fourth son of immigrant parents. He lost his mother at age 9 and spent some time in an orphanage because his Dad couldn't work and care for four boys. His language skills were pretty bad. Somehow he succeeded. I think he learned how to sample the universe fully. He saw the beauty in nature, birds, hiking, sailing,
growing vegetables, he played violin, he loved all sorts of music, he could fix things, he could build things, he had four kids, he had a wife, my mother, he loved all kinds of food, traveled a lot, taught us to wrestle in the living room, toured the countryside on his bicycle. He was spiritual but not dogmatic. He was different from other guys but was never bothered by that or afraid to try new things. On his 70th birthday he was on the ice in Presque Isle Bay on Lake Erie ice boating. He made wine. Maybe he is an angel now. Thank you Dad for setting a great example.
Thank you Jeff for teaching your boys to wrestle and showing them that sampling the good things in life is the way to go. I now feel like I'm floating while still feeling grounded. Grieving with gratitude, Elizabeth, Lisa, Erickson, Sorek, Lasted
Elizabeth, I’m sorry for your loss, and what a tremendous human being. Definitely a model for Dad Hood. I love how you talk about him. What a lineage. So appreciate everything you’ve written here.
Elizabeth, This is a lovely tribute to your dad and the life he lived. It sounds like he was a wonderful person who didn't lose sight of life's simple pleasures, despite the challenges when he was young. I am sorry for your loss. Tamar
Elizabeth, I'm so sorry for your loss! Your father sounds absolutely amazing, and I'm glad you got so much time with him. My heart is with you! ❤️💔❤️
Elizabeth, so sorry for your loss. A lovely reflection of a life well lived 💚🙏🏻✨✨
Hi Big J .. your timing is once again ‘on point’ …I have a Non Hodgkin Lymphoma ( Blood Cancer) in my small Bowel as it is ‘Follicular’ it is not curable but a good shot is remission!
Anyway, you’re my no.1 Meds …I’ve recently completed latest rounds of Chemo ( not very nice and certainly tricky on the humour side !) and a week ago I finished Radiation therapy ..it’s gotta be good because the ‘side dishes’ are crap !
Anyway I digress, I have listened to you for years ( well it feels like years 😉) fed up still paying Calm an annual membership just to listen to you 😂😂.
No seriously along with my amazing wife of 38 years and two adult children ..love them to death ( excuse the pun in this case 🫤) your next …I could put you first as they won’t read this, but I have a conscience …what if there is a heaven ?
Your words genuinely make my pain ease, make me smile and feel a level of happiness ( that you really don’t deserve …oh go on then ! I look forward to each Sunday when you post and have sat here tonight in the U.K. and felt so moved and so good, and agree soundly with all you say …but most of all it gives me a sense of love for this amazing World and all of our hang ups …so bless you Big J.
That’s it, I have a group of over 100 I support and teach being Mindful with a class of about 20-25 for an hour each Wednesday lunch time on Teams (Zoom ) when I’m up to it and the will is there.
Go easy my old friend …if anything cures this awful thing it might just be you …is there a song there somewhere xx
Thanks Geoff! Ouch though - wishing you all the best with the chemotherapy. My friend kelly kelbel has a bunch of meditations, called the chemo sessions somewhere on Substack, might be worth an investigation. I’m planning to write a post about her soon.
Love that you’re supporting all those folks with your mindful zoom sessions. Thank you for that!!
Thanks Big J 🤍🙏🏼
Geoff, I wish you all the best! May you and your family be well, hold joy, and know love. My heart is with you all! ❤️💔❤️
Thanks so much that’s so appreciated ..sending best wishes 🙏🏼
What if there’s a heaven? - I chuckled at your sense of humor, thanks for sharing that good old medicine with us too 💗
Thanks Suzy …a good sense of humour helps at times ! Thanks for replying 💜
Happy Sunday, Home Base fam,
This meditation hit the spot for me today. The neurons were a little worked up when I sat down for this, so it took a while to settle. But there was this interesting change moment when Jeff suggested “zooming back” a little, getting delicate, and focusing on the stillness in the body. That focus on the stillness in my body seemed to have opened up the door for some settling to seep in.
Does anybody else get the experience that I do in which I know I’ve started to settle (at least intermittently, as it never seems to last) when I seem to lose track of a sense of time for a few seconds? It may only be a second or two, but it can feel like a deep hole in the space/time continuum! It’s almost like this beautiful relief state, and almost sort of refreshing? Anyway, I digress…
When Jeff was talking about healing, and how we can look at it as almost like a loosening of the rigid in our systems, I had this parallel forming in my mind. Maybe it’s because I’m going through it right now for a physical injury, but I started thinking of meditation (and other healing modalities) as PT for the brain, in which we’re sort of using all kinds of modalities (strengthening, stretching, mobility, balance, heat, ice) to get in there and break down scar tissue so we can rebuild the healthy stuff!
I am walking away from today’s meditation feeling relieved and liberated in a way by the ideas that there is no “magic” blueprint. There is no “one way” to healing. There is no silver bullet. Rather, we are sort of cumulatively building, layer upon layer. (I like the image of peeling back layers and then re-applying them in a healthier form.)
In the case of meditation’s contribution, it feels like to me that those magic moments of settledness (so so so fleeting for me), when the silence and simplicity really seem to “connect”, that’s when the good stuff feels like it starts to seep down into the cracks or crevasses for me… I have this visualization in my head of this sticky, gooey, nourishing, sort of coating, seeping down and covering the rough spots that need healing….a “Gorilla Glue” of sorts….Jeff Glue.
There’s a business idea for you Jeff. “Jeff Balm” to soothe the tortured soul (and hands!)
Also, looking forward to Wednesday night in The Lounge!
Love,
Richard
Richard, I'm glad you are doing well today! 🧡
Hey Jeff, I would argue that this crowd did not stopped believing that any one practitioner or modality will finally heal us.
As, most us with an affinity taste towards irreverent gurus as soul healers and solace givers, are hapilly following the words and sayings of one.
And also self treat in the existing provincial populational medical system.
In my case, being just another Provençal, I replaced the brewed variety of your touted communal temple libations with solitary self administration of curded mammalian secretions.
From different species, because I am kinky .
Or because I am not ?! ... hmm..
I was never sure what's the criteria for the age swap threshold, a confusing arbitrary societal rule... anyway...
With a permanent cheese stash that could bankrupt a small dairy farm, ( it did me) I consider fromagère to be a personality trait .
As a dairy curd-obsessed fiend I can be found in front of my fridge, muttering my mantra, “Life’s too short for processed slices.”
Of course, as advised and consistently reminded, with poise and grace.
I maintain my open invitation to preaching the gospel of melted soft rind cheese while sniffing a wedge like it is delicate flower, at neighbouring Atwater market in Montréal.
Or, depending on the bacterial strain and cave conditions , like a butt.
"De gustibus et coloribus non disputandum...
I like all of this. I have absolutely no idea why. And maybe that's why. :):).
...because it's cheesy ?!
lol this is so great and (and grated)
nooo, not fromages râpés ... (note the accent that makes the difference the grated ones are the despicable way italians prefer it.... Mamma Mia...
Oh dear, despicables !
Dear Jeff, I haven't meditated since my Mum passed on 19th January this year and today after wine 🍷 tasting with my Dad 4 months on I found myself wanting to meditate. Many many many tastings later a little tipsy I decided to give it a go and like all good muscle memory shortly afterwards I found myself knee deep in a glorious meditative state. Thankyou Jeff it's wonderful to be back. Aussie Lea xx
Good to have you back Aussie Lea
Hi Jeff. Like you, the universe of practices I've 'tried 'n cried' through over several decades rivals the Marvel Multiverse. From all that we try on for size, though, we can indeed receive snippets of healing along with lessons from our blundering about. I've been FREAKING AWESOME at the blundering about part, driven by my 'neuro diverse, pick-an-alphabet label brain'. Now, I'm modestly improving in the lessons learned and compassionately-applied part. Mindfulness and meditation as my bedrock practices, are the key reasons why. Also, the Lounge sounds great and I'm in for at least one per week. Thanks for all you, and your team, do. M.
“The Marvel Universe” - 😂 - so good Melanie, my fellow ADHDer ❤️
I’m interested in The Lounge. Have had trouble getting the zoom link for your live visits, so maybe this will work better. 😊
He was pretty misogynist as authors go, but I’m forever amused that Charles Bukowski had “Don’t try” etched on his tombstone. Considering the myriad forces both internal and external demanding that we maximize our time and energies to meet some fleeting criteria, it’s not the worse mantra.
Boy can I ever relate, Jeff. Thanks for bringing it up as I’ve never given conscious thought to it.
I am 76 and my ‘journey’ started about 54 years ago. Or maybe earlier when I rejected formal religion as the folks didn’t seem present or open (?)😬😬.
My first psychiatrist turned me on to the Bhagwan rajneeshi books when I seemed to become depressed after the birth of my first child (he is 54 now)…I sort of got it but didn’t get it, and on it went. ❤️❤️❤️😬
This hit home for me, I had a recent conflict with a friend of 30 yrs. She couldn’t understand why I can’t turn off certain behaviors if I’m aware they happen..I wish I knew the answer..practice, practice, lifelong practice..
Hi Stefani. So often in life, there can be people around us or in our close orbits who are so uncomfortable with OUR discomforts that they feel the need to tell us not to feel a certain way, not to think about things in this or that way, and my personal favorite, "focus on the positive." One of the things I learned from my husband that he loves to say from his many years in AA is that you don't go to the hardware store for oranges. :). Some people just can't give us what we need, and it's usually a good idea to shop for those particular needs elsewhere. xoxo. Richard
I appreciate that hardware store quote- thank you Richard and husband 💕
Wow, thank you for this 🥹❤️
Sometimes I really struggle to get back to Homebase! This is one of these days. So many thoughts swirling around. I think I’ll make “let everything come to me” my mantra for this week though.
I can relate E. - what a great mantra goal 💖 right there with you
Jeff, thank you for gently guiding us into sitting in spacious stillness. I feel so wonderfully calm.
As I've stumbled my way into a meditation practice over the past ten years, I repeatedly experienced relief followed by disappointment with the various guides I thought would teach me the way. Perhaps I was searching for the perfect fit, perhaps I wasn't quite ready for what each guide was offering me, perhaps what they offered required a sameness that didn't feel comfortable. But I kept showing up for myself. And I finally stumbled across your meditations. What a revelation for me! Gentleness, humor, flexibility, honesty. What I learned is that it isn't enough to be ready to listen -- we open up to the voice and the thoughts that resonate. So tonight my expression of gratitude is to you. Tamar
❤️ thank you for this on a Monday morning, my week is better for it
I agree Tamar- Gentleness, humor, flexibility, honesty- these things go a long way in human relationships 🩷
"In other words, visiting healers is a practice, much like meditation is a practice. We don’t expect to meditate once and have perfect mental health. The same goes for these other modalities."
I only started realizing this recently in the past couple of years. I'd struggled with chronic physical health issues for over 14 years, I'd try one thing and when it didn't work I'd spiral into depression. Only after realizing it's probably a combination of things and me trying various physical and mental exercises and healing modalities did I start to feel alive again. One of those being your Daily Trip meditations which I've been doing on and off for over 6 years now. You're the only down to earth and realistic meditation teacher I've been able to listen to (that doesn't trigger one of my many mental health conditions). So thank you for all your work Jeff!
Ha Firas great to be connected friend, I’m glad my practices are minimally triggering 😂
This is so timely. "visiting healers is practice" we return again and again BECAUSE it is practice. This is exactly how I feel about the work that I do helping writers (and now wellness practitioners) use writing as a tool, as a mirror vs a means to an end. For me, the tool that I help folks use to investigate themselves is reflective writing, rereading, looking at patterns and data. It is a practice. I feel like I can't stop saying those words! It is practice, it is practice. I have so many different practitioners in my life and they all offer me something different and specific. And really, it's like life. We surround ourselves with people who metaphorically tether themselves to one area of the self where we want to grow. More often than not they aren't experts in that area, but they are just two steps ahead which is just enough to lovingly turn around and offer you a hand. Love this post and thank you!
Wow, thank you Chelene, beautifully said! So glad you metaphorically tied yourself to that writing part of the self 😀
Your realness soothes the “am I doing this right?” part of me and reminds me to take a moment to laugh at it all. Thank you!
That was one mf relaxing bell! Like the Bell's of St.Mary's. So chill