<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[The Zen Pen]]></title><description><![CDATA[Compassion begins at home. Writing practice takes me there.]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Tue, 26 May 2026 13:51:12 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[When the pen is too heavy to lift]]></title><description><![CDATA[I’m sitting on my pink couch, gray blanket covering outstretched legs, purring gray and white cat curled on top of my feet, watching...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/when-the-pen-is-too-heavy-to-lift</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5b0</guid><pubDate>Wed, 21 Dec 2022 21:33:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_6a46aabeacf64ed5bed7a7e34a7a9999~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Nobody Does It Alone]]></title><description><![CDATA[Open any published book to the Acknowledgements page. Notice how many people are listed there and what the author is thanking them for....]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/nobody-does-it-alone</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5b1</guid><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 07 Oct 2022 21:22:09 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/11062b_65df172fc0e5432a8fa7d78c5861e40e~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why I get up early ... Oh, wait, I don't]]></title><description><![CDATA[I love early mornings. I love that luminous, numinous moment every day, when everything is fresh, crisp, untainted. It's the perfect time...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/why-i-get-up-early-oh-wait-i-don-t</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5d0</guid><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Sat, 13 Aug 2022 21:31:45 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/nsplsh_5dc8e6ce458b45239fc0c45713a0bed0~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Off the Cushion: Contemplative Writing in the Real World]]></title><description><![CDATA[We don’t meditate to become expert meditators, right? At least in the meditation practices I follow,  we do eventually get up off the...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/off-the-cushion-contemplative-writing-in-the-real-world</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5b7</guid><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 03 Jun 2022 21:36:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/nsplsh_aeb1ec42311344e38efed999bb20b66b~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Muse Is A Harsh Mistress II]]></title><description><![CDATA[Inspiration is a fleeting, elusive thing. Sometimes you’ll think you have something, but then suddenly the Muse goes silent, disappearing...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/the-muse-is-a-harsh-mistress-ii</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5c4</guid><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 28 Apr 2022 23:31:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/11062b_5f2977951f8f4de4a5458910c4526272~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Muse Is A Harsh Mistress]]></title><description><![CDATA[Some of my best ideas come to me in the shower. I probably wrote half  my master’s thesis under running water. Sometimes I’m inspired by...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/the-muse-is-a-harsh-mistress</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5bb</guid><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 31 Mar 2022 02:48:36 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/11062b_e4bf1a57367a4fbf810f6c9a346062d0~mv2_d_2814_2579_s_4_2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[No Resolutions, No Regrets]]></title><description><![CDATA[When I was 22, I promised myself I’d live with no regrets. This seemed like a good idea at the time—a healthy way to view life as a...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/no-regrets</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5c3</guid><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 28 Feb 2022 09:17:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/nsplsh_0b6c6446ac674e338b5e0857141244d7~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Tears I Shed Yesterday Have Become Rain]]></title><description><![CDATA[— quoted from calligraphy by Thich Nhat Hanh Today is the 30th anniversary of my father’s death. Today I remember him. Every day for 30...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/the-tears-i-shed-yesterday-have-become-rain</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5d6</guid><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 01 Feb 2022 06:06:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_1db869d8f7b944ebaaad60bfbc2b8ed9~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_863,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Give the shadows room to speak]]></title><description><![CDATA[The best way I know of to bring light to the shadows of my mind is by writing down the shadows and letting them breathe, giving them space.]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/surround-the-shadows-with-love</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5d1</guid><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 08 Dec 2021 20:43:29 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/nsplsh_376b625037734d6b6a6f30~mv2_d_3504_2336_s_2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Suffering optional. Pass the chocolate.]]></title><description><![CDATA[As I sail through one green light after another on my way to an appointment, I think of that magical day last summer, out on the lake by...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/suffering-optional-pass-the-chocolate</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5c6</guid><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2021 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_fe2f7f0616734a90adf504761673da43~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Everything I Touch Becomes Part of Me]]></title><description><![CDATA[Meet Betty. Betty is my sourdough starter. What’s unusual about Betty is not that I’ve given a name to a mere concoction of flour and...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/everything-i-touch-becomes-part-of-me</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5a7</guid><category><![CDATA[Creative Non-fiction]]></category><category><![CDATA[Essays]]></category><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 04 Oct 2021 03:15:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_1625531ebfaf4f75bfbbe78e6398534d~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_665,h_958,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Compassion starts at home. Writing practice takes me there.]]></title><description><![CDATA[I'm a writer and a teacher. I write pretty much every day. But just a few short years ago, I was hardly writing at all, except emails and...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/compassion-starts-at-home-writing-practice-takes-me-there</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5d8</guid><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 01 Oct 2021 01:29:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0f57ebedd9c645d4ae40ca827216ed66.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[“But I don’t really write, I just journal”]]></title><description><![CDATA[Can I call myself a writer if all I do is “journalling”? Or morning pages? Writing in a writing class but not on my own? YES. I say yes,...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/but-i-don-t-really-write-i-just-journal</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5cc</guid><category><![CDATA[Writing Craft]]></category><category><![CDATA[Essays]]></category><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 26 Aug 2021 22:33:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_132a52614f314f95b988f5a3a02b70e6~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_768,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sanctifying the Ordinary]]></title><description><![CDATA[Sanctification: making sacred. Sacred is an anagram for scared. We are often scared of the sacred. We are scared because we have not been...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/sanctifying-the-ordinary</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5a8</guid><category><![CDATA[Archived Posts]]></category><category><![CDATA[Essays]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 31 Mar 2021 17:45:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_1d62221121c540fa90545a77f867b709~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_750,h_750,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Playing With Fire]]></title><description><![CDATA[In honour of the festival of Imbolc, which honours Brigid, the Celtic goddess of fire and the hearth. (Last year’s Imbolc post here.) I...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/playing-with-fire</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5ad</guid><category><![CDATA[Archived Posts]]></category><category><![CDATA[Creative Non-fiction]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 01 Feb 2019 05:47:14 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_d0b4e7d12a2e4ddea98fda3b938ced7a~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_422,h_750,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Call Of The Jay]]></title><description><![CDATA[The call of a blue jay never fails to transport her to that moment in time, instantly, to a moment so many years past that she’d actually...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/the-call-of-the-jay</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5c1</guid><category><![CDATA[Archived Posts]]></category><category><![CDATA[Creative Non-fiction]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 30 Nov 2018 05:37:41 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_0ab06467f51f438c95173238ebca606a~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_750,h_500,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Not A Breeze]]></title><description><![CDATA[Silence, deep silence, not a breeze  My step on the floating dock the only ripple  Cascading along the still surface of the lake.  A loon...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/not-a-breeze</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5de</guid><category><![CDATA[Archived Posts]]></category><category><![CDATA[Haiku]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 26 Oct 2018 04:06:07 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_7eee8b53716445c8b434fdd2bc7aa969~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_750,h_563,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Take Your Body To Heart]]></title><description><![CDATA[It was a revelation of epic proportions when my first meditation instructor said to me, the body feels before you put words to it. I...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/take-your-body-to-heart-1</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5bf</guid><category><![CDATA[Essays]]></category><category><![CDATA[Writing Craft]]></category><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 14 Jun 2018 19:01:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_4fd1ceb242444900ac864f270239c28f~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_750,h_422,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Reframing Writer’s Block]]></title><description><![CDATA[The last time I posted here, I said on Facebook that posting weekly was part of my self-compassion practice. Then I promptly skipped a...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/reframing-writer-s-block</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5da</guid><category><![CDATA[Current Zen Pen Posts]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 25 May 2018 01:43:40 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_90fb0106e33348d190c780f4ec57b760~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_750,h_423,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Time Is Not A Line]]></title><description><![CDATA[Time stretched and bent around her as she sat. She’d been sitting in this chair by the door for some time. She’d been sitting in this...]]></description><link>https://tundenemeth.wixsite.com/zenpen/post/time-is-not-a-line</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64b6be45d2a8c84807c1c5b2</guid><category><![CDATA[Archived Posts]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fiction]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 11 May 2018 04:35:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ed76b_876581bc8e7c4577ae3f92ab778c1b3a~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_750,h_423,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Tunde Nemeth</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>