Endings and Beginnings: A New Year Meditation

To journey without being changed is to be a nomad.
To change without journeying is to be a chameleon.
To journey and to be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim. ~ Mark Nepo 

There is a symmetry about endings and beginnings that have to do with cycles and time. 

We look back with perspective and look forward with anticipation, openness and curiosity. Experiences fill the foreground as the mundane fades into the background. In this time of betwixt and between, our year-end / New Year angst contains both our eagerness to cast off our old shells and the anxiety of embracing the unknown.

When I was in India, the spiritual head of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram told me that my problem was that I worry too much about the future. He said, "The future will come at you like a speeding train, you don't need to do anything to prepare for it, you have to learn how to live in the present." 

Easier said than done!

Recent articles featured in the NJ Jewish Standard

To read the full story, click on the linked titles. 

1. Connected through the web of life - by Angelica Berrie • Op-Ed - Published: 21 November 2013

2. Angelica Berrie’s amazing journey - by Joanne Palmer • Cover Story - Published: 29 November 2013

For the eversion and all the photos click here. 

Feast on Your Life: A Moment to Give Thanks

Thanksgiving is a time of open heartedness, a day when we come to the communal table with generous hearts and share in the bounty of life. 

As we reflect on our life with gratitude, we should be mindful to begin with the gift of our own life, a gift that allows us to be a blessing unto others. 

Life is a feast of splendid opportunities to give thanks, not for what we have but for who we are. The Buddhist teaching on the perfection of giving begins with the practice of self-compassion.

The notion of compassion and generosity beginning with yourself is an invitation the poet Derek Walcott extends in his poem: Love After Love. He reminds us to "greet yourself in your own mirror and give back your heart to yourself."

Too often in life, we are so busy doing, attending to the needs of our children, our partner, responding to demands of work, forgetting our own needs. Taking a moment for ourselves seems selfish on a day perceived for giving to others. 

On a day most women spend whipping up a storm for others, it seems fitting to offer this reminder to be grateful for our own lives, to awaken the awareness that as vessels of the Divine, we have the sacred obligation to replenish the spring from which we draw our daily strength, bringing a sense of wholeness to all aspects of our lives.

Tibetan Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron, teaches that "every moment is an opportunity for awakening." To be fully present in your own life is a conscious exercise of connecting to the "stranger who was yourself." 

May today awaken you to the possibilities of the feast that is your life so you can bring that abundance of grace into the lives of others.

Love After Love by Derek Walcott
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/love-after-love/ 

Gilda Radner: Delicious Ambiguity

For generations of Saturday Night Live fans, Gilda Radner was an icon. She inspired Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Rosie O'Donnell, Tina Fey and many other stars. Her elastic face and vulnerability were endearing qualities that were unforgettable as she battled ovarian cancer in her fiercely funny way. 

Bringing her memory to life for 1200 people in New Jersey, Alan Zweibel, who helped create some of her most memorable Saturday Night Live characters,  recounted a story of her final appearance on the Gary Shandling Show. After an absence of almost seven years from television, her host opened with a question on her absence from the entertainment world, and she responds, "I had cancer, what's your excuse?" bringing the audience in the studio to cheer her through their tears. Alan recalls how footage of that segment still shows a wobbly movement as the camera comes in for her close-up. It was caused by the cameraman's unsteady hands as he struggled to contain his tears. 

A Time for Giving: 40 Years to Make a Difference

"If you had the resources to accomplish something great in the world, what would you do?" the legendary sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett, posed this challenge to his children when he announced he was leaving the bulk of his fortune to philanthropy. 

At the Wealth & Giving Forum, his grandson, Howard Warren Buffett, related how his father's passion for farming and sustainable agriculture shaped the family's philanthropic response.

As a farmer with a deep understanding of what it takes to grow food in difficult conditions, Howard G. Buffett approached the issue of food security through a farmer's lens. All farmers can expect to have about forty growing seasons, giving them just forty chances to improve on every harvest to produce the best crop possible.

Life as a Camino

Posted by auberrie on September 20, 2013 at 8:40 PM

" No hay camino
(There is no Way)
Se hace camino al andar
(By walking, you make the Way) "
~ Antonio Machado

The Spanish word "camino" can mean a trail, a path, a road, or even a journey. It is also used to describe a "way" as in Scriptures, when Jesus says: "I am the Way, the truth and the life."

The Way of Saint James invites walkers not just to undertake a physical path but a way of life. Perhaps this was what Machado meant when he wrote: "there is no way." While the purpose of undertaking a pilgrimage may be unclear, the road we travel does not really matter. What matters is the journey, how we walk the transformational path in our own lives, making each step count.

Pilgrimage is more than just a geographic trek. It was designed to act out an inner journey.

Walking the Camino

Posted by auberrie on September 5, 2013 at 6:40 PM

A first cousin and niece who live in Madrid planned this trip for me (a labor of love) and we are at the 100 km marker indicating distance to our goal: Santiago de Compostela.

To make it, we have to walk 15 km. (about 10 miles) daily.

The process involves applying for a "credencial" (an informal passport which you get stamped at hostels, bars, churches along the way to verify you walked through the route).

The minimum requirement to get a "Compostela" (official certificate of pilgrimage) is 100 km. walk through last section of the 500 km. Camino route (Sarria to Santiago). There are several ways to do the Camino, starting your walk from "home" (from Portugal or France, from parts of Spain through the coast or through the central area cutting through Pyrenees).

I chose to start from Edgewater, walking across the GW Bridge into the Cloisters in NY, using the museum's statue of Santiago de Compostela (with a pilgrim shell on his hat) as my "starting from home" reference.

In the news. . . .

   

Posted by auberrie on August 24, 2013 at 4:35 PM

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Here are some recent articles about Angelica Berrie -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/rabbi-jack-bemporad/women-living-philanthropy_b_3292399.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/04/american-greetings-small-card-companies_n_3000946.html
http://mahwah.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/berrie-awards-give-165-000-to-nj-s-unsung-heroes
http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2009/06/russ_berries_widow_finds_joy_w.html
http://ciu.markandphil.com/about/transformational-giving-angelica-berrie-makes-a-difference-2/
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090308/SMALLBIZ/303089998
http://www.thejewishweek.com/features/new_york_minute/catholic_childhood_jewish_leadership
http://www.iie.org/en/Who-We-Are/News-and-Events/International-Awards-Gala/International-Awards-Gala-2011/Gala-2011-Angelica-Berrie
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122653187603722383.html