SLOW... EVERYTHING!

If you take a look to the right this morning, you'll notice something new.  My new book, "Slow Looking," is now available online, and ready for an early January launch.  I'll be reaching out to friends and readers when the time comes.  For now, enough to note that the book is based on the "One Hour/One Painting" experiences I have been offering for a number of years now in museums and galleries.  Some of you have already joined me for one or more of these events, and know that it's a unique combination of meditation and contemplation, about slowing down for long enough to really see a work of art.  Most of us are habituated to spending no more than a few seconds with a painting on the gallery wall--and often giving more time to the wall label than the actual art work.  Participants have reliably found my hours to be a challenging and refreshing change.  And the book is about more than simply looking at art: it's about slowing down enough in our lives to actually pay attention to them.  So my hope is that "Slow Looking" will prove a valuable little handbook not only to the art of looking at art, but also to the art of living.  It sells for a mere $10, so I hope you'll consider ordering a copy for yourself or for a friend.

I've been hearing in the past couple of days that my blog is missed.  That's nice to hear.  The person who bears all the blame for this is little Luka, who has been with us with his Mom for nearly a week now.  His energy is boundless--and mine, truth to tell, is rapidly exhausted!  So this has been something of an unplanned vacation for The Buddha Diaries.  I'm sure that it will not be long before I gather steam again, but until then I'll be grateful for patience from those readers loyal and kind enough to miss my entries when they log in and find that nothing has been added for an entire week--an unusual event in the annals of this journal.

Happy cliff-hanging!  I'm sure I'll be back before the New Year.