misc.joy

explorations by kenley neufeld

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Entries Tagged as 'Family'

24 Days on Retreat Begins Friday

June 10th, 2009 · Comments

It is a sweet opportunity and gift from my lovely wife and partner. Thank you. Every time I plan and attend a retreat, a few questions arise from friends. Where are you going? What is it like? Is it silent?
I leave Friday morning for Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, a Buddhist monastery in the tradition [...]

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Tags: Buddhism · Family

Today I Have 20 Years Sober, Thank You

June 8th, 2009 · Comments

It was twenty years ago today that I took my last drink of alcohol. I was 21-years old at the time and it was my third or fourth attempt at stopping. Today I am living on grace, and though I don’t speak publicly of this very often, I want everyone to know how proud I [...]

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Tags: Buddhism · Environment · Family · General · Politics

MacBook Pro - I Will Not Gush.

April 13th, 2009 · Comments

Image via Wikipedia

I will not gush. I will not gush. Though I’ve been a Mac user for 15-years at work, this is the first Mac that I’ve purchased personally. It is hard to believe that this move has finally happened. When I noticed our family Dell laptop starting to lose life, and I’d been using [...]

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Tags: Family · Technology

The End of a Love Affair

January 20th, 2009 · Comments

One of the toughest decisions of my life happened in the past two weeks when I decided to end my love affair with motorcycle riding. I’m almost crying as I write this and look at the included picture. I’ve been riding since age 14 when our family had a little Honda 50 for dirt riding [...]

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Tags: Family · General · music · teaching

Love, Equal Rights, and Gay Marriage

November 11th, 2008 · Comments

Today I am struggling. In fact, I have been struggling since before the national election. I don’t understand the opposition to gay marriage and how Proposition 8 passed in California.
Growing up, as a Mennonite, I was taught that love was of the highest nature. I see Christ as a true revolutionary who reached out to [...]

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Tags: Buddhism · Family · Politics

The Courage of Parents

August 1st, 2008 · Comments

Can you imagine being together as a family and your 7-year old son complains about a headache and three minutes later is unconscious and being rushed to the hospital due to a stroke? This is exactly what happened to some friends of ours less than two weeks ago. The life of this boy continues in [...]

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Tags: Family

Being Vegan

July 21st, 2008 · Comments

Back in 1985-1986, I was deeply troubled by the plight of the rainforest in the Amazon. The information I received at that time came primarily from the Rainforest Action Network who talked about deforestation to support the booming fast food industry and the American hunger for cheap hamburgers. I felt helpless to do anything until [...]

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Tags: Buddhism · Environment · Family

4 days, 25 Monastics, 80 Children, and More

July 7th, 2008 · Comments

With almost 250 people filling Deer Park Monastery, the 6th Annual Family Retreat was a great success. Leslie and I (with kids) arrived a couple days early to help setup and plan for the arrival of many friends. From July 2 through July 6, the monastery was transformed into a time of families practicing together. [...]

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Tags: Buddhism · Family

Movies, Television, and Children

June 17th, 2008 · Comments

Parenting is a huge responsibility and it will affect our children’s (ages four and eight) future in ways we can only guess. We make decisions for our children on a daily basis, but are we are making the right choices? Two particular choices we have made in our household pertains to media - we don’t [...]

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Tags: Family

Eat Local One Year

May 26th, 2008 · Comments

We have exciting opportunity here in Ojai to participate with a group eating locally for one year. Of course, this could happen anywhere but Kristofer and Joanne Young have challenged our community by seeking 100 (or more) volunteers willing to do this together. The group is just getting off the ground and has met once [...]

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Tags: Family · General · Ojai