Dear President Trump, A line from Bobby McFerrin’s “Psalm 23” has been stuck in my head since yesterday; “She sets a table before me in the presence of my foes.” It’s like my brain has been worrying it the way my tongue would worry a loose tooth, not quite sure what to make of it … Continue reading “in the presence of my foes”
Spiritual Practices
Off the rails
Dear President Trump, In honor of Presidents’ Day, and because I think you need it quite badly, I’ve been doing tonglen for you off and on pretty much all day. You seem to be going off the rails and I’m not the only one to notice. There have been a lot of worried editorials the … Continue reading Off the rails
Psalm 23, again and still
Dear President Trump, A few weeks ago we had a memorial service at church for one of our dear long-time members. This woman was 94 and I’m happy to say the sanctuary was brimming with people. Near the end of the service a recording came on that sounded for all the world like it was … Continue reading Psalm 23, again and still
Imagine
Dear President Trump, Normally during Lent I focus on giving up one of the many habits I’m not especially proud of and I am working on one this year (refraining from self-promotion that’s driven by insecurity), but I realized this morning I also need an active Lenten practice that’s doing something and not just refraining … Continue reading Imagine
Sincere thanks
Dear President Trump, Eating my lunch yesterday I had a chance to peek at NPR and saw the article describing the open meeting you had with congressional leaders on immigration and for a few minutes I entertained the fantasy that maybe I’m getting through to you. It was so surprising and really quite wonderful that … Continue reading Sincere thanks
LKM for my most difficult person
Dear President Trump, My daughter and I drove down to Portland yesterday to see my family. Fortunately all the snow up here and the freezing rain down there had stopped, and we just had plain old rain (lots of plain old rain). We were going to stay another night and come back in the morning … Continue reading LKM for my most difficult person
The darkest night
Dear President Trump, It feels really appropriate that you signed the gift to your family and friends (aka “the tax reform bill”) on the day of the longest night of the year. I saw the WP piece this morning about your donors pledging big money to get the propaganda presses churning to sell the American … Continue reading The darkest night
Thank you
Dear President Trump, Yesterday I opted to use my character count to send you the text of the prayer I read aloud in church so I couldn’t tell you how it went. I’ll start by saying that as I’ve considered again the possibility of putting these letters out in the public forum, the 10/29 letter … Continue reading Thank you
“The softer I am with myself, the easier I am with others”
Dear President Trump, This morning I edited a paper for work about a qualitative study we did with Veterans who have PTSD who participated in a mindfulness-based stress reduction class at our VA and I came across this quote from one of the participants: "What I’ve learned about me is that the softer I am, … Continue reading “The softer I am with myself, the easier I am with others”
Harmonious balance isn’t harmonious or balanced if it’s static
Dear President Trump, Sometimes magic 8-balls keep giving different answers to the same question and sometimes the same answer keeps coming up no matter what the question is. These maddening patterns are probably just due to chance or the quite limited number of “answers” housed in whatever that weird liquid inside the balls is, but … Continue reading Harmonious balance isn’t harmonious or balanced if it’s static
Daily Trump Letters 