I was planning to write a little something about ahimsa today, but, as it is Mother’s Day, I had a change of heart. (Although, I suppose the selfless love of a mother can sometimes best exemplify ahimsa.)

My graduation from the Cooper Union. May of 2007

As this year’s Mother’s Day comes to an end, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my mother. Thank you today (and everyday) for your love, strength, protection, creativity, enthusiasm, support, inspiration, free spirit, and all the beauty you bring into my life. I will never find words that can adequately convey how blessed I am to have you as my mother.

I would also like to congratulate all the beautiful mothers in this world.
Thank you to those female relatives and friends here and abroad who have shared so much selfless love with me. I am so grateful for your nourishment and shelter, moral support, security, and kindness. You have granted me so much. I will never forget.

Nanny, my dear grandmother who passed away in November, Happy Mother’s Day, wherever you may be! I miss you.

When I first traveled to India in 2005, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher shared the following piece of wisdom:

Love the whole world as a mother loves her child.
(Due the cyclic nature of Buddhism, in theory, every being potentially could have been our mother in a previous life.)

Mommy – You have only taught me to love and care for this world. I pray, however, that I will one day provide the world with the same, incredible amount of love you have always given and will always give Chris, Charlie, and me. I will never give up in my effort to do so.
I love you.

My mother in Leh, Ladakh. I convinced her to come to India with me in the fall of 2005.

My dear grandmother Nanny and my brother Charlie. They were my wonderful models for a photography assignment (a 8-part solution oatmeal advertisement campaign)

My mom and me in Ladakh, 2005.

My art show at the Cooper Union in New York. February 13, 2007.