India's Writing Practice

Let's write a fun message to Elle for her birthday in our entries. Birthdays in the middle of a pandemic My son turned six on Monday. It wasn’t what we had planned – the party at Chuck E Cheese and the cupcakes for his class at school. Yet we had a family celebration. I was still able to get cake from Dairy Queen and pizza for dinner. Zander said it was the best birthday he had ever had. A friend of mine called from the nursing home where she resides. Her birthday is the same day as my son’s. Her family was going to have a small party for her with dinner and a cake. They were unable to come because the nursing home would not allow visitors. While the nursing home was trying to keep her safe, it was still a loss for my friend. These are hard times for people with birthdays. Yet, perhaps these are times to slow down and do what we can to celebrate simply. That does not mean there is not grief in that for some of us. For introverts like me, this time to be alone without...

Write about an experience that made you very happy.      Working on my undergraduate degree in Comparative Religious Studies made me very happy. Learning about other religious traditions gave me a new perspective on life and meaning. My time at the University of Oregon lasted a couple of years as I had transferred in from a community college. While at the U of O, I explored different religious ideas, visited different religious services, and learned different ways of sacred practice. Spiritual seeking at this time was joyous for me. I was excited by the different ways of experiencing the Divine. One practice that changed my life was meditation.      When I studied Buddhism and Mystical Catholicism, I learned about meditation and mindfulness. Meditation changed my life because I had never felt closer to God than when I meditated. It is hard to describe that feeling. It was an ecstatic feeling – like my soul was lifted in me. It felt different than when ...