misc.joy – explorations by kenley
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Depression, Healing, and my First Tattoo
Content Warning: Suicide I have always been around people with tattoos. In fact, it’s been quite common given my background. But I’d sworn to never ink my body permanently. And now, at age 56, I find myself getting my first tattoo. I feel that I’ve reached something of a milestone and I want to honor,…
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Attending Iceland Airwaves Music Festival
This week I attended my first Iceland Airwaves music festival in Reykjavik and I’d definitely do it again. I first heard of Airwaves 5-6 years ago through the KEXP podcast. Since then I’ve been tuned in a bit more to Icelandic musicians beyond the big names (Björk and Sigur Rós) and I’m happier for the…
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Living a Spiritual Life
A teaching on living a spiritual life by looking at volition, sense impressions, and consciousness. Supported by the Fourteen Verses of Meditation.
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Living in a Monastery
It was 2020 and I was living alone in a studio apartment and working remotely. The covid pandemic had fully settled in to our society and I was feeling lonely, upset and not well. I had spent the prior year trying to get better from my clinical depression and in February 2020 I had left…
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Nonviolence and Beloved Community
As a long-time student of nonviolence, I was excited to pickup the book Healing Resistance by Kazu Haga. Not only was it published by Parallax Press, founded by Thich Nhat Hanh, but the jacket quotes from Michelle Alexander, Joanna Macy, and Larry Yang said this was a book for me to read. Kazu writes in…
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Growing Up a Missionary Kid
My early life can be characterized by travel and moving. And, because of my parents, was filled with service and peace work. How much does our early life influence who we become as adults? My parents joined Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), a relief, service, and peace agency shortly after their 1965 marriage. MCC represents Mennonite,…
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Whiteness and Healing Racism
Recently I have been engaged in a conversation with a dharma friend who is questioning the idea of white people talking to each other about white supremacy and if it’s possibly doing more harm than good. What you will read below are my thoughts in response to my friend. It felt important to share some…