The biopsy is today. My anxiety has been hitting pre-dawn. I’ve learned to breathe through it, just focusing on my breath, inhaling, deep breaths, shallow breaths. Mostly, I’m amazed, I fall back to sleep.   Two weeks ago, I hadn’t expected this anxiety. Then I stopped joking about my two new specialists, my urologist and my neurologist. I got past my neurology scare, made it through two PET scans, came out clean, exhaled, and slept well one night. Then I began worrying about

For a while, I thought it was a joke, my new specialists. I’ve been telling people for years that I began this period in my life when I acquired my cardiologist. It’s more than 15 years now. I picked up Dr. Gala at the time that I had my carotid artery rotorootered. That surgery was fortuitous, the result of an incidental finding. If I hadn’t had the surgery then, I would have stroked within six months, maybe died. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster since – four stents and on

“Doing good for Others” was always my strong suit. It was my birthright.  I was a social activist, diving into Zen in search of inner peace. I was relieved when Bernie said I didn’t have to put my activism on hold while I worked toward enlightenment. “In some traditions, one goes up the mountain (to enlightenment) before starting down the mountain (to do good for others). In our way, we go up and down the mountain at the same time.” It was one of Bernie’s most important teach