Poems, Guitar and Meditations

We've been reading Shel Silverstein's classic children's book of poems and cartoons, Where the Sidewalk Ends.

We decided to record the first 34 pages of poems (most of them). Here it is.

Please enjoy these poems.

If you want to go to Shel's site:

https://www.shelsilverstein.com/9780060256678/where-the-sidewalk-ends/

Love,

Jonah and Rebelle

Self-compassion is complicated for me. I understand I must love my self before I can love anyone else. But that love is not simple and easy. Love for myself is complicated. I value certain aspects of who I am and what I bring to the relationships in my life, my work and my creative projects...but I also get stuck in negative thought cycles. I can spiral. I can ignore my own needs and then become irritable and irritating. In other words, I need more self-compassion. It's a practice. There are days I won't have enough compassion for my body, or my health, or my need for rest, or my desire for fun. There are days I will stumble through. But keeping in mind that self-compassion is a practice, I will keep reminding myself to practice it. Hope you enjoy this episode. Be kind to yourself.

The episode starts with a reading of Jack Kornfield's, called Awakening Self-Compassion.

In this episode, I read and reflect on the Buddhist concept of Equanimity. In short, equanimity is about finding balance and protecting yourself from attaching to external forces like praise and blame, fame and disrepute, pleasure and pain, or gain and loss.

Alongside the reading: sounds of a Tibetan singing bowl.

Though I will not attach to the results of putting this episode out, I will send out hopes that anyone who listens may find fleeting moments of peace, calm or balance.

For more on equanimity, check out: https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/article/cultivating-equanimity-2/

Thanks for listening,

Jonah

1. Cascading (instrumental - amplified acoustic guitar)

2. Sunday Morning (instrumental - amplified acoustic guitar)

3. We Turned Six (keyboards and vocals)

Walking Meditation (Being Sick, Watching NBA Playoffs With Young Child, Mother's Day, Political Fears)