Shark Tales

Tom is sitting on the sand at the water’s edge, his knees drawn up, putting on his “NoShark” ankle band. With his long limbs and full-length black wet suit, he looks like some strange sea creature. He carefully wraps the heavy-duty ...

Popcorn, Wine, & Meditation

Every week a group of us hold a meditation at my home, which we irreverently call, “Popcorn, Wine, & Meditation.” We meditate for 25 minutes, enjoy some popcorn, watch different teachers on YouTube and share our experience. Over ...

Embrace the Night

When I was first a tourist on Maui, I used to enjoy sending postcards to my friends. Rather than sending the usual colorful images of turtles, whales and waterfalls, I had fun sending a card that was all shiny and black. On the bottom ...

The Dip

Tom and I have some trepidation about going out today. We’ve often been out in the big North Shore waves of Maui before, but this morning we read reports that the waves at Peahi, the famous big wave surf spot called Jaws were going to ...

A Man Named Mooji

We all have our passions in life. For some it’s primping their poodle for a dog show, for some it’s knowing all the characters in Downton Abbey, and for others it’s collecting crystals. For me, it’s following spiritual teachers ...

Lit Up and on Fire

Every Wednesday evening, a small group of friends meet at my house for “Popcorn, Wine and Meditation.” The name of our group is a way of saying that none of us take ourselves too seriously (we don’t actually drink wine, except me ...

Muscle Memory

I tentatively step from the solid floor onto the ice rink. Over a hundred tiny kids, a few teenagers, and one or two grown ups are buzzing around the rink in varying degrees of control. With everyone going counter-clockwise, it’s like ...

Death Wish

It’s a rough day on the North Shore of Maui. Driving to Baldwin Beach, I pass by Ho’okipa, the famous windsurfing beach, where the waves are at least 15-feet high. I almost drive off the road trying to watch the surfers. From this ...

Tectonic Shift

When I was in my early thirties and a cocky young art history professor living in Toronto, Canada, the editor of artscanada asked me to write a feature article on Gershon Iskowitz, one of Canada’s foremost painters. I knew ...

The Joy of Yelling

I love yelling. Just about every day I get to yell at the top of my lungs far out in the ocean and then laugh hysterically at the tragedy and the hilarity of life. These are not wimpy yells; they’re from the gut, give it ...