Because I am a Creativity Activator, instead of a bio I created an illustrated poem about my journey to share with you.

Press play and scroll down (13 minutes).

These words were inspired by a lecture with Dr. Thupten Jinpa, who taught us to ask the question:

“What is the most compassionate choice I could make in this moment?”

**note that this poem brings up emotional struggle, addresses the pandemic, division and the virus. If these topics are too activating, maybe skip this one.

Earth, Flower, Human, Sky

From my earliest memories

I looked through fresh eyes

enchanted by the preciousness

of being alive.

my minds' eye

taken away

up, up, up

into the sky

soaring above

the clouds way up high

as I lay

down below

a child

hidden in purple lupines that grow

at edge of the

California wild

and the Suburban tame,

I remember tender feelings

the landscape made plain.

they tugged my heart

to purpose: 

in the time that remains

to leave the world

a more beautiful place than I came.

where people and the environment

harmonized

in the places we met

To give offerings

gifts for us to heal and thrive 

that’s the reason why I am alive.

in my innocence I couldn’t see,

where there was room

for more beauty to be.

back then my only clue

was that there was something very True

in being able

to wonder

laying on Earth,

in a circle of flowers,

sky above

human under.

I grew up.

As I did,

the world changed

beauty faded away.

its face turned cruel.

to think beauty was possible

I felt like a fool.

I fell to the Earth

I blocked out the Sky

broken

an ocean

of tears in my eyes.

In the wake of the flood,

destruction leaving me dry.

I picked up a pencil.

I drew up the sky.

I touched the Earth

I pushed around clay.

and deep in the dirt

I found a new day.

the rays of the sun

shone light on a way

when I made with my hands

I felt protected.

just for today

I could make sense of it

just enough

to stand spine erected.

Through my hands

my world of heartbreak

transformed

into colors and textures

into stories,

not lectures

of a heart mending

I learned that beauty

was going from breaking

to bending.

So I made art.

Hidden away.

Paper and canvas

my arena to play.

Over time I got lonely.

art had forced me to stay

in a box,

and I was destined

for the box

of a gallery

or a living room.

and that wasn’t ok.

I remembered the edge of the wild and the tame.

I saw it being erased in the cities

left without name.

I saw that we humans

needed the cities

so that wildness of Earth

and our own future

could always remain.

So I learned about cities

I made it my game

to draw back in the map

spaces to wonder,

places

for Earth, Flowers and Sky

to get fame,

places

Humans could always

gather under.

I learned that cities are

palimpsests

ancient and living layers

of the grids and the grinds

of humans and history,

order and chaos,

power and struggle

culture and mystery.

I saw in the layers of

the parks and the trees

people found wonder

in all that we juggle.

heaven within us,

shelter from thunder.

So I brought Landscapes to Cities.

To create the conditions for life

to be happy and free.

places for everyone

from you and me

to the birds and the bees

drawing the lines that spoke for the trees

places for all of us to find some ease.

a place on the map for beauty to see

a place in our lives to finally just be.

Years passed.

Making Landscapes and Cities

turned me into a machine,

I forgot I was human

addicted and mean.

1,000,000 clicks and life in the screen.

a lost spirit in a broken body

It seemed no matter how hard I tried

I fell into states where

I cried and I cried and I cried.

My ocean of tears

back at high tide.

people would ask, “How’s your day?”

“Oh, fine” I said. “I’m ok.”

and lowered my eyes,

my Truth denied.

bound up tight in a web perfection

mixing up beauty,

with pride and attention.

Safe to be True,

I would have replied

I wished it would end,

I could sink,

say goodbye

under the surface

and just simply die.

heart unspoken

I felt like a shell.

Each day to me

was a living hell.

Then it all fell apart,

all I had perfected.

came undone

my faith defected.

I surrendered.

climbed onto my mat

curled into a ball.

I raised my hand

help

I put out a call

not knowing then

that this was

my most courageous act of all.

In the womb of OM

my spirit resurrected.

A refuge within me

when I felt infected.

I joined with my breath

found my soul was protected.

From the storm of my thoughts

wounds self-inflicted.

I learned that I too am

a human palimpsest

ancient and living layers

deep in my chest

holding the grids and the grinds

of my family and history,

order and chaos,

power and struggle

culture and mystery.

I felt in Yoga

a place safe to wonder

a place to be held

despite how I blunder

heaven within me,

shelter from thunder.

A tradition passed

lip to ear, lip to ear

from ancient sages to modern bodies

whose names I hold dear.

A tradition that shows us

things aren’t all

they appear.

An Art and a Science

to realize

why we are here.

A path to discovering

beauty

is always near.

It’s in here.

That our essence is good.

That looking to love

is what makes us clear.

A practice that brings

sky into body

flower into heart.

A practice that asks humans

to make their lives

into art.

A path where all we do

matters

every day a fresh start.

More awake now

I know every day is a gift,

I know every day

we have to resist

all of the ways

we’ve fallen adrift

we’ve let facemasks and robots and rockets

tear a big rift.

relentless

the virus

ripping the slit.

bringing the world under its knee.

the virus

a lightweight to

hatred, delusion, and greed.

i know we’re tired

we’ve got to pull through

help each other

we’ve got work to do

before we all leave

we’ve got people around us who

just cannot breathe

we’re standing on land

that was stolen by thieves

not by our choice

fate dealt our hand

blind, now we see,

we need a new plan

to build a world where

each woman, person and man

can stand shoulder to shoulder

heart in our hands

now

we know,

it’s not a mystery

it’s our choice

will we write the last chapter

of human history?

no.

i will resist.

do everything i can do

not let it come to this.

we need all of our smarts

pull back the veil

together

take it on

to change our tale.

get out of our heads

feel our minds in our hearts

rethink our thinking

make a new start

take our attention

from out of the sky

and the screens in our hand

touch the earth

have a good cry

heal the land

feel our feet on the ground

raise our heads

dry our eyes

take a look at this life

see that it flies

in each moment so precious

say to ourselves

these lines

“What’s the most Compassionate choice I can make at this time?”

I know that your answer

will be different than mine

but if we all try

time after time

we might write a happy end to this rhyme

we might build a place on Earth

that’s kind for all kind.

each of us think of

each other

not just

one

how on Earth else

will our hard work be done?

Now

for me

this is serious

I have a son.

whose life on this planet has only begun.

When I’m gone

and he wakes

I want him to drink

clean water in lakes.

I’ll tell him life is a

palimpsest

ancient and living layers

of the grids and the grinds

of humans and history,

order and chaos,

power and struggle

culture and mystery.

I want to say son,

“We learned from our mistakes.

“We turned towards each other to win our victory.

2020 gave us a shake

big enough to make the changes we needed to make.

We learned how to hold each other in our heartbreak.

I want to say,

We will always do what it takes.

We mended the land of the

red, white and blue

with stripes of all colors

Truth, Justice & Forgiveness

the gold in our glue.

Eye to eye

we were there for each other

heaven within us

shelter from thunder.”

I want him to hear

flocks of birds sing.

I will fight

to resist

silent spring.

I hope we can do it, we all make the choice.

to know when to listen, and when to use voice.

One day it will be over.

I am not sure when it will end.

I do know that at this turn of the bend,

the best answer I have for that question

is to take all that I’ve learned

and all that I know

And use it to join others to grow.

To see the North Star

that lights up our dark

Is not in outer space

but in the goodness of our hearts.

seeing to act

from our heart

our minds’ eye.

harmonized

together in beauty

Earth, flower, human, sky.