Investing in the world I want to see I agree to pour my heart into actualizing Tamkeen regardless of whether I receive a visa to enter Israel Palestine.
Crates of flowers I agree to offer a gentle embrace to the anxiety arising in my coaching relationship with Leo.
On returning to Palestine sans visa I’m afraid to get to the border only to be told that I don’t belong, to go back to where I’m from. I’m afraid of what
Co-creating a safe container to enable true presence Documenting my agreements for my coaching relationship with Leo, as they become foundational for relationships throughout my life
Taking shelter in the warm sand You are here with me, dear child. You are safe from the dangers of the world. It’s okay to turn your superhero cape into a blanket, to come in from running along the water’s edge. Sometimes, the bravest thing is to admit that the waves are scary and you need refuge here on the beach.
The pain of silence Pain of my father's silence, of being home without being seen, let me scoop you up from the place where I buried you. Out in the graveyard, in the cold silky earth, buried in a row of other pains long ignored.
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Welcome home (to 2020) There is no perfect offering. All you can do is meet the moment as you are. You are enough. I am enough. When I touch the enoughness within my body, I open to the beauty in me and around me.
This is it Life is short. If not now, when will I choose happiness? When will I say yes to love and growth, despite fear of abandonment and loss? If not now, when?
Inhabiting a body of joy Subject: Leo, you won’t believe what’s happened in the past week I can’t remember exactly how that subject line went, but here goes: The energy in my
On thinking big Today, during a meeting in the French Hill kicking off a new project in Issawiya, I found myself explaining a mentality of scarcity to my partners: Let's start by assuming we can work for free.
A bowl of soup You are invited into this house of love, Melanie. Come, wash your hands and sit down for a bowl of soup. It is cozy and warm inside, and the water is delightfully cool at the kitchen sink. The fixtures are metal, solid, glimmering.
Openness Aware of the suffering created by fanaticism and intolerance, we are determined not to be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. We are committed to seeing the Buddhist teachings as guiding means that help us develop our understanding and compassion.
Being with the void I am afraid of what happens when everything stops and I’m left in this void, alone, with me. Immediately my hands rush to fill the gap, twitching to open the New York Times, Ha’aretz, Whatsapp, Telegram.
Including My Loneliness in God It’s Yom Kippur today. I’ve been told that the English translation is poor and it’s not quite the Day of Atonement, but rather the Day of Return. Of returning to perfect communication between you and God.
Anger in a secluded forest There is a place, out where nobody can find me, where I go to nurse my wounds and cry. Let us go to that place now, weaving past mountains of fear and remorse, to a secluded forest.
Rainbows and windstorms along the Causeway Coast Celebrating progress in Palestine, two weeks at Plum Village, and three weeks in London
Touching immediacy in the clay fields An exploration of authenticity and true self in a coaching session with Leo
Navigating the barriers to an open heart The race to submit eight Palestinian visa applications in time for waking up at Plum Village
Articulating a framework of belief for operations in Palestine Inclusivity, wise speech and communication, systems change, and taking good care
Women paving the path of peace My encounters with three women teachers at the European Institute for Applied Buddhism in Germany (and other happy news)
Practicing Aimlessness and Goal-Setting on the Camino A reminder to the current Melanie to go slowly, take care of the body's needs, and to re-commit to aspirations of the heart.