Remember, last time we were talking about worries and came up to the fears that lie beneath them. When we shed the stories which cloak our fears, we get behind the worries. We get to the bedrock. Sound easy? It takes practice. We are so addicted to our stories. We often have to keep asking, What am I really afraid of it? What’s really scaring me?   With practice, we get there. Fear. Now what? How do we work with the fear? A few years ago, I found a way. I picked up a Tibetan

I hate worrying. For years, many of my worries were work challenges, which always seemed to hang over me. One work life solution was, “Do it now.” Facing a crisis in our schools, my go-to was, “Let’s meet now.” To schedule the meeting for next week meant worry for a week. Meet now. Come up with a plan. Do it. Now. No worry. I had another work trick, for the worries that sat on my to-do list – the nagging worries that could sit there for weeks –poking at me as I tried to fall

Remember Achilles, the Greek hero who, according to Zeno, couldn’t pass a tortoise. Achilles was fast. He cut the tortoise’ lead in half and in half again and again, but he could never pass the tortoise. Zeno was showing me the “infinitesimally small.” It was a lesson I never forgot.   Zen teachers are more complicated than tortoises. On the one hand, you have to pass them, to go beyond. It is the fundamental challenge of teacher succession. As spiritual practice moves throug