Just finished my 2nd week of social distancing. How did I fare? Well, within the last week, I’ve taken three 2.6-mile walks from my property and visited the grocery store once. I’ve been getting out of bed at around 7 am to eat breakfast, meditate, read a bit, and work (from home). I normally go […]

Thought it might be cathartic to document my experience of social distancing (S.D.). Maybe I’ll learn something, right? Honestly, the fact that I’ve spent the overwhelming majority of the past week at home hasn’t really proved unique. It sorta feels like a really lousy spring break or the beginning of a semester break. However, that’s […]

This has been a really weird and busy week. Not going to go into detail, as I think you know what I’m talking about. Anyway last weekend I got back out to Ottawa Lake Campground. However, this time I spent two nights there. It was good weather (a bit cold) and I got some really […]

I spent another night winter camping at Ottawa Lake Campground. I arrived at the campground around noon and secured a nice site overlooking Ottawa Lake. The nice weather had brought out numerous tent and RV campers so it wasn’t near as quiet as it was in January. Got some exercise walking around the campground and […]

Last weekend I spent another night at the Ottawa Lake Campground. You may be wondering “Why don’t you go to another site?” Well, Ottawa Lake is the only winter campsite in the Kettle Moraine-Southern Unit, which is 25 minutes from my house. Pretty convenient. I arrived on Saturday early afternoon and looked for a campsite. […]

In December, I spent another nice night at the Ottawa Lake campground. I arrived Saturday evening and checked into a really nice campsite next to Ottawa Lake. After setting up my campsite, I hiked the Scuppernong Springs Trail, which was really nice (see some pics below). I returned to my campsite and prepared some dinner […]

This past weekend I finally got out to Ottawa Lake campground for an overnight camping adventure. I’ve unsuccessfully attempted to camp out there 3 times in 2019. Twice I was rained out and snowed out the other. I arrived at the campground on Saturday at 2:30 pm, set up camp and walked around the campground. […]

This is the third installment of the five essentials to beginning a successful meditation practice. To me, this is the most important: Let go of expectations. I speak with people when they start meditating and hear things like “I don’t think I’m doing it right” or “I wasn’t able to meditate like others.” Each person’s […]

This is my third installment of McLean’s 5 essentials for successful meditation: Don’t try too hard. Forcing one’s self to have a certain experience (“I’m gonna sit here until I don’t have any thoughts”) when meditating is only going to create more thoughts. I love McLean’s example of trying to force oneself to go to […]

This summer I struck up a conversation with a friend about meditation. She was interested in meditating, confessing that she sorely needed to bring some calmness her chaotic life.” When I asked how meditation was going she said, “I tried it for a couple of days, but couldn’t keep it going.” I asked what kept […]