Steven Alm and Friends

You may go…

Steven Alm — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:35:56 +0000

On my walk through the state park (Fort Snelling) today, I encountered several teachers and a group of young students all speaking German. To say the least, I was surprised. I turned and asked, “Deutschen?” The lead woman looked past me and said to a wayward student, “Bleib stehen,” and then turned to me and said, “Sie darfen gehen.” I laughed. She, of course, thought it was funny too. It turned out they were from the German immersion school in St. Paul.

View from My Window

Steven Alm — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:43:20 +0000

Holy Shit…It’s So Liberating

Steven Alm — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:12:05 +0000

In my entire lifetime, I have never once turned the other cheek. Because I was a sensitive, mousey boy, my parents took it upon themselves to toughen me up and they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. As a consequence, I don’t take shit from anyone.

But, oddly, I did today. What in hell is going on?

A neighbor walked toward my car as I was exiting my garage. In deference to his having the right-of-way, I waited for him. When he was a few yards from me, he glared with thinly disguished contempt and made no attempt to acknowledge me. In essence, he was saying, I’m cutting you dead. This didn’t surprise me. He’s part of the clique of people that run the neighborhood. I don’t comingle. My strategy has been to ignore them, though one does pay the price with unplanned chance encounters such as this one.

Without knowing what I was doing—was I channeling Gandhi? have I been doing too much yoga?—I raised my hands and put them together in the universal symbol of peace. My lips moved and I found myself repeating the word, “Namaste.”

This had no effect on him—he walked away—but it certainly did on me. I had spontaneously returned love for hatred. I had never once done this before in my life. Holy shit. It’s so liberating.

Who Is Ellen Parr?

Steven Alm — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:47:00 +0000

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”

–Ellen Parr

Forest Tent Caterpillars at Work

Steven Alm — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:30:32 +0000

Pink Trees

Steven Alm — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:56:46 +0000

Fog Everywhere

Steven Alm — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:32:11 +0000

Litomysl

Steven Alm — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:48:06 +0000

At St. Isidore’s in Litomysl, Minnesota (pronounced “little missile”)—a tiny Czech community in southern Minnesota—there stands a Roman Catholic church constructed of field stones the local farmers brought from the fields so they could be added to the outer walls of the church. There is nothing quite like it in southern Minnesota or anywhere else that I know of. It is a beautiful structure maintained by local families in this rural community who appreciate its loveliness and want to preserve it. Beauty makes it own rules and has its own passionate followers.

Sunrise at the Farm in Spring

Steven Alm — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:04:41 +0000

Grace

Steven Alm — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:59:55 +0000

For two days I’ve been the only person in my yoga class. Maybe it’s the close attention I’ve gotten—not sure—but it was obvious both days that much of my resistance and physical pain were actually my ego’s attempts to protect itself. It wasn’t physical at all. In truth, most of our irrational fears are the ego’s defenses against being known for what it is—nothing, nada, mu. More than anything, yoga is a unique way of dissolving ego through physical practice. I told my instructor that it felt like the old Christian notion of redemption through grace. Quite amazing that it could be so simple. Bless the gods and my yoga instructors. Namaste.