I honor and am inspired by your practices of resilience, joy, listening across difference, and unconditional gratitude. These are super powers. Prison did not defeat you. Fuck yeah, Tony. Lifting up prayers for your threshold crossing, and all the healing work. And ever deeper gratitude for getting to hear your stories. The more I read from you, the stronger my prayer lifts get. Every time. Lotta reps today! Thank you!! 🙏🏻
Please keep writing, reaching out of the bars toward your future free self. Preparing. Knowing you have done the work.
The friend I met through a letter when he was 24, paroled to my town on July 17. He was first incarcerated at 14. Now he is 45. His last bit was 7 years. It looks like it will actually be his last. It is beautiful to share gardening time with him. Grocery shopping. Teaching him to make salsa. Taking him to campus for a lecture. Watching his world expand as he gingerly drops the self imposed chains that have been tattooed into his psyche.
If you dream it and believe it you can achieve it. Goethe
So moved by your words and story and humanity again. I feel connected to so much of myself when I read you, Tony. ‘That sacred place is my root, my true Home.’ I feel this way about earthkeepers (which I hope you can be a part of someday! U already are) and I touch this when I read your work. Sending you big encouragement right now dear brother. I know things are hard. Love you.
Dear Tony, sending deep gratitude for the power and depth of your words.
And mystical hope as you ready your Being, every moment until the threshold moment.
I read your September story again just now because I found something today that I saved for you. It's a book review of "Be Free Where You Are" by Thích Nhất Hạnh (of blessed memory). The small book is a transcript of a talk he gave at a Maryland prison in 1999.
"Every moment of your daily life can be a moment of practice. Whether you are waiting for your food or lining up to be counted, you can always practice breathing mindfully or practice smiling. Do not waste a moment of your daily life. Every moment is an opportunity to cultivate your solidity, peace, and joy. And after a few days, you will see people beginning to profit from your presence. Your presence can become the presence of a bodhisattva, a saint. It is possible."
I honor and am inspired by your practices of resilience, joy, listening across difference, and unconditional gratitude. These are super powers. Prison did not defeat you. Fuck yeah, Tony. Lifting up prayers for your threshold crossing, and all the healing work. And ever deeper gratitude for getting to hear your stories. The more I read from you, the stronger my prayer lifts get. Every time. Lotta reps today! Thank you!! 🙏🏻
Tony,
Please keep writing, reaching out of the bars toward your future free self. Preparing. Knowing you have done the work.
The friend I met through a letter when he was 24, paroled to my town on July 17. He was first incarcerated at 14. Now he is 45. His last bit was 7 years. It looks like it will actually be his last. It is beautiful to share gardening time with him. Grocery shopping. Teaching him to make salsa. Taking him to campus for a lecture. Watching his world expand as he gingerly drops the self imposed chains that have been tattooed into his psyche.
If you dream it and believe it you can achieve it. Goethe
Love this!
So moved by your words and story and humanity again. I feel connected to so much of myself when I read you, Tony. ‘That sacred place is my root, my true Home.’ I feel this way about earthkeepers (which I hope you can be a part of someday! U already are) and I touch this when I read your work. Sending you big encouragement right now dear brother. I know things are hard. Love you.
Dear Tony, sending deep gratitude for the power and depth of your words.
And mystical hope as you ready your Being, every moment until the threshold moment.
I read your September story again just now because I found something today that I saved for you. It's a book review of "Be Free Where You Are" by Thích Nhất Hạnh (of blessed memory). The small book is a transcript of a talk he gave at a Maryland prison in 1999.
"Every moment of your daily life can be a moment of practice. Whether you are waiting for your food or lining up to be counted, you can always practice breathing mindfully or practice smiling. Do not waste a moment of your daily life. Every moment is an opportunity to cultivate your solidity, peace, and joy. And after a few days, you will see people beginning to profit from your presence. Your presence can become the presence of a bodhisattva, a saint. It is possible."
Here's a link to the review: https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/view/5141/be-free-where-you-are
"Because you are alive, everything is possible."
"Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves." —Thích Nhất Hạnh