Present and Connected

At the end of last month I got a text from my oldest sister "Dad asked me to tell you, he wants to see all his children as soon as possible, because his health is getting worse. He has some things he wanted to discuss." I haven't  seen my dad in a good three, almost four years. Ever since he chose not to attend my wedding day (not without an excuse, he's always good at giving those) Up until that moment I gave him every opportunity to be willing participant in my life as a father, but when he didn't show up on that day, something within me hardened and I had set a firm boundary. If he wanted to see me, he had to make the effort as I wasn't going to visit him anymore. My dad's health has been getting worse from this year on, his heart condition had gotten worse. One of his heart valves is not working properly anymore and with the bypass he had, the medicine he is taking for it, well let's say, it's not getting any easier for him. The doctors sa

A post shared by Cheetarah (@present_and_connected) on Sep 1, 2017 at 1:35am PDT Last weekend my husband and I had an introduction to Zen-meditation as I wanted to know the form this meditation had to offer and the difference between other meditation forms I have tried. Mindfulness and loving kindness meditations being a few of them.  As the instructor was explaining the origin, practice and form she said jokingly "But don't worry, we won't hit you with sticks!" and I was like "Excuse me, what do you mean with that?!" And she explained that in the Japanese ZaZen tradition when you are learning this form of meditation, you really have to learn the form - when you are not sitting up straight enough, you'll get hit by a stick in your back to re-position your posture! The shock showed on my face and she said "yeah, Zen-meditation is not for wussies! But like I said we won't hit you with sticks." And gosh I just laughed and lau