One dark night, while wandering the streets of my hometown, I came across a poem by Louise Erdrich posted on the sidewalk.
The first line said, “Life will break you. Nobody can protect from you that.”
My wife and child were sleeping back home. I thought I should be happy and fulfilled with my life - I had family, meaningful work at a non-profit, adventurous travels and creative projects, inspiring friends and vibrant community.
The truth is I was sad, resentful, confused, and more than anything - disconnected from Soul. I didn’t want to admit it. Something deep inside me was stuck on an old story of who I thought I should be and I was desperately holding on.
In the days and months that followed I thought I could “fix” my life by patching up the leaky spots. I went to medicine retreats, worked with a therapist, got more exercise, put on my tallit, and tried to do all the things I thought would have me feeling happy and healthy.
All good ideas. But the thing is - I was still clinging onto outdated stories of who I was and where I was going. I wasn’t making room for Soul to guide the way.
When things got so bad that I couldn’t go on with the charade anymore, I allowed myself to admit that I was lost and broken. It was a humbling, terrifying, and actually exhilarating experience. I felt a new capacity, a trembling sense of courage to change my course.
With lots of support - especially from experienced guides and mentors - I was able to listen to the still, small voice that Soul often speaks through. Hard places within began to crack, cold parts began to thaw. Poems and psalms became guideposts for this spiraling path. The parts of me who wanted to patch the leaks and put everything back together again, they became quieter as I learned how to listen gently to their brokenness.
This is how a man grows, by being defeated, decisively, by constantly greater beings.
Rainer Maria Rilke
More about my training:
Over the last 20 years or so I have had the privilege of supporting hundreds of individuals and groups in feeling more intimacy with soul and spirit. It has been a mysterious work, helped by coyotes, old songs, and an abundance of failures.
I am one of the founding directors of the MANNA Passover Pilgrimage Festival. I am one of the core teachers for the SHOOV Jewish Ancestral Connection Course. I developed the Jewish vision fast program Neshama Quest.
My approach is informed by training and professional service with Wilderness Torah Earth-based Judaism, Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education, Animas Valley Institute, Tarshish Kabbalah, and Rites and Responsibilities.
I live between the quartz mountains of Córdoba, Argentina and the redwood coast of California. I am father to Samu and partner to Miriam, relationships that teach me how to live this human life in gratitude and humility.
On those lucky mornings when I rise in a cheerful spirit, I remember the words of Irish poet John O’Donohue and aim to “live the gift of days which calls me”.
We have had the good fortune of being able to work with Daniel in multiple capacities with our son; as a group youth mentor, as a facilitator/collaborator for our son’s coming-of-age ceremony and as a one-on one-mentor for our son. From the beginning and in each setting, Daniel has been a grounded, wise, authentic, compassionate and skillful presence. Daniel is a treasure in the community at large. I highly recommend working with him.
- P, mother and program participant