The Inner Room

“Do not be swayed by the opinions of others. The secret to breaking free from confusion.” The Art of Simple Living, Shunmyo Masuno By: Gabriela Yareliz All of us can have an inner room. It’s sort of like an inner chamber of the soul to where we can retreat to find stillness and peace. WiseContinue reading “The Inner Room”

Here I Come A-wassailing

By: Gabriela Yareliz Searching for Memories I can see myself holding the Christmas carol book, fast-forwarding the little white cassette in my purple boombox past that one song, “I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In.” I found that song to be boring. Not sure why. Skip. My favorite one was “Here We Come A-wassailing” (thereContinue reading “Here I Come A-wassailing”

The Values that Stand the Test of Time

By: Gabriela Yareliz I keep thinking about how much values matter. When children are tiny, parents do their best to try to instill manners and certain values in their children. Every family reflects a values system, whether it realizes it or not. Some are unbiblical values that are learned, such as: “Lying and cheating aren’tContinue reading “The Values that Stand the Test of Time”

Eyes On You

By: Gabriela Yareliz Welcome to another day. A new variant. A new state of emergency. More fear being vomited onto us. (If only we reacted to it as the vomit that it is). That’s what seems to be heaped on us, like a bad record on repeat. It’s the day after the worst day ofContinue reading “Eyes On You”

Nourishment for Hard Times

By: Gabriela Yareliz Where We Are What does it look like to confront moments of uncertainty? We all do it, day after day. I was listening to a doctor on a podcast who is temporarily staying in Harlem, and she was talking about how there is a depressive cloud over NYC. The subways are silent.Continue reading “Nourishment for Hard Times”

What a Revolutionary Is Made Of

“Sometimes, the greatest safety can be found in taking the right risk. Whether it be an individual, a community or a country, when faced with tragedy or fearful uncertainty, we either become bigger and enter life more fully, or else we accept a diminished life and resign ourselves to a smaller way of being.” MichaelContinue reading “What a Revolutionary Is Made Of”

Carried Home

By: Gabriela Yareliz Recently, my fiancé (yes– you read that right!) and I were driving back from a farm outside of the city. Taconic State Parkway, y’all. Unwillingly crawling our way back into Gotham City. It was late, and it’s a dark highway. The only thing illuminating those narrow, dark winding roads was the occasionalContinue reading “Carried Home”

A Lesson from Jesus’ Selections

By: Gabriela Yareliz Something that has truly impressed me about the series The Chosen is how alive the characters are. They stand before us in their flawed and relatable humanity. Sometimes, when we read Scripture or we have read certain stories over and over again, we see these characters as kind of flat. We missContinue reading “A Lesson from Jesus’ Selections”

Who’s Afraid of (Virginia Woolf)…?

By: Gabriela Yareliz I am a fan of Virginia Woolf… but this play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, is about deeper things. Wikipedia gives us the brief summary that this play was about “who’s afraid of the big bad wolf … who’s afraid of living life without false illusions. The play demonstrates ‘how his charactersContinue reading “Who’s Afraid of (Virginia Woolf)…?”

Friday Thoughts: July 16, 2021

“I’ll tell you one thing for sure, once you get to the point where you are actually doing things for truth’s sake, then nobody can ever touch you again because you are harmonizing with a greater power.” George Harrison Storm watch Where have I been? I know, I was AWOL. It has been a summerContinue reading “Friday Thoughts: July 16, 2021”