Last night I decided to log in and join my zen sangha’s Wednesday night meditation group. Every week there is a different theme for the meditation, and last night’s was loving-kindness. I haven’t been feeling much loving-kindness these days. Quite the opposite, really. So I wasn’t sure I wanted to…
Category: Blog
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We Gotta Get Real Now
“The absurd is born of the encounter between two opposed concepts: the human need for meaning and the apparent meaninglessness of the universe.” – Albert Camus Yesterday was the inauguration of the 47th president of the United States of America. It was also MLK Day. Then, overnight, it snowed in…
Art
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Social Media isn’t Art
I’ve been pretty quiet on social media lately. After two decades of daily immersion in online spaces, gulping down other people’s opinions, hot takes, think-pieces, tweet threads and TikTok diatribes (and contributing plenty of my own perspectives) my voice has all but dried up. Oh sure, I’m still on the…
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Love demands a response.
Love, being the source and nourishment of all creativity, demands a response. Many people say they want love, but then they find ways to avoid it. Because love demands a response. Love evokes in us our realization that we are not alone. It forces us to consider the ultimate truth…
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Savannah Red’s Christmas Album is Your New Holiday Classic
Read my review of Savannah Red’s new Christmas Album, “A Savannah Red Friends & Family Christmas” at The Cosmic Clash!
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Have you ever been in love?
Have you ever been in love? I mean real love. Not just the kind that we make movies about. The kind that transcends and envelopes and overwhelms all senses? The kind of love that pushes you to take risks, and makes you a better person simply by having experienced it?…
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About To Do Something Epic and Life-Changing, nbd
In less than two weeks, I’m going to do something I’ve always dreamed about but never really believed was possible (in fact, it wouldn’t be possible if not for the loving support and financial contributions of my friends and family): I’m going to Japan. An entire month in The Land of the…
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The Qreative Life Podcast | S2E15 | Tarik Trad
Support The Qreative Life podcast through my Patreon, or via Paypal or Venmo (@AmandaQ555). In this episode, Q talks to her friend Tarik Trad, founder of Focus Relief Photography for Charity. They discuss Tarik’s lifelong love of photography, a chance encounter that led him to Antarctica, and his passion for service that resulted…
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God is Change
It’s been said many times before, but bears repeating: discomfort is our friend. This sounds insane to people who are born and raised in the west, particularly in the hyper-capitalist, marketing-infused US of A, where a large part of the economy runs on our willingness to fork over hard-earned dollars…
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Blog – 6.12.24
A few weeks ago I read this article in TIME Magazine about why obesity is rare in Japan. The whole thing was interesting, and it’s definitely worth considering how the Japanese lifestyle choices differ from ours. But for me, this was the real money quote: Western cooking, he said, is…