Ninja your Mind


Once upon a time in college I built a fort under my bed, hanging a collection of pareos over the bed corners like sheets. For a week, I warmed tomato soup in my rice cooker and hung out in the tent under my bed, separated from the world.   Naturally, my roommates concern grew in my absence. When their hands would part the pareos, I’d cringe a little and force a smile repeating that I was fine.   That week I wanted everyone...

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Sometimes I feel like things were easier when I was a kid. Take being sick. Sure, on day one I stayed home from school feeling like death held me in its wrenching grasp. But after death passed, there came the few days of milking it. I took permanent residence on the couch watching Saved by the Bell, getting stories read to me, and having tomato soup and buttered toast delivered, until, against my pleading, my mom decided I was well...

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While I’m crying, he calmly fixes my tire.   Wait, that comes later . . .   Today’s been chaotic on the highways of LA. I’ve spent longer driving to my meetings than the time we actually met. I haven’t written yet – because it’s highly unsafe while driving, and frowned upon during meetings.   Within my car, there’s a general aura of stress and blahness.   I have dinner plans with a friend but I’m running late...

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When I hear the word “winter,” I think of falling snow, of a quiet world bathed in white. I hear it crunch beneath my shoes as breath escapes my lips in whispers of smoke.   Winter often symbolizes a temporary death, a pause, a hibernation period. On the opposite hand, Christmas, in certain belief systems, celebrates the birth of a baby, the beginning of a new life.   While nature takes pause and celebrates death, we...

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Help it. It’s struggling.   The little chick picks at the interior of the egg that holds it captive. Peck by peck it labors to push its body through the crack. Its wings flap, frantic and wobbly, exhausted with the first moments of life.   Help it. It’s struggling.   It would be so easy for us to simply peel away the thin exoskeleton that holds the little bird captive. The thin shell of an egg is all that separates it from...

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  “I’m so disgusting how can you be friends with me.” One of my best friends asked me that one afternoon in college. She was half joking, and we both laughed, but years later there are moments when those words haunt my thoughts. This week I went to a friend’s house where a few of us had wine, mini cupcakes, and conversation. When I returned home, it was cold so I went to sleep in the same clothes removing only my shoes. For...

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