Kellie Schorr works as a novelist who writes mystery genre novels. Her published credentials also include: journal articles, short stories, and a two-year stint writing for a web-comic. Kellie’s debut literary novel, The Space Between Breaths, will be published by Brother Mockingbird in early 2025. Practicing in the Nyingma Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, Kellie is a personal student of Dr. Pema Khandro Rinpoche and member of the Vajra Sangha of the Buddhist Studies Institute. She lives and works in rural Virginia with her partner, Cathy, and their beagles. Her favorite word is chiaroscuro. You can contact or find more about her at Kellieschorr.com
In the Deep Midwinter: The Warmth of Compassion {Part 2}
By Kellie Schorr In the Deep Midwinter is a 4 week series on the Four Immeasurables as a Buddhist meditation in the tradition of Advent, a Christian season of introspection the weeks prior to Christmas. Everyone knows that one...
In the Deep Midwinter: Loving Kindness as Light {Part 1}
By Kellie Schorr In the Deep Midwinter is a 4 week series on the Four Immeasurables as a Buddhist meditation in the tradition of Advent, a Christian season of introspection the weeks prior to Christmas. While having my teeth...
The Future is Open: Good Karma, Bad Karma and Beyond Karma by Chögyam Trungpa, Edited by Carolyn Roe Gimian {Book Review}
By Kellie Schorr You know that game you play in those awful “team building/ice breaker” events at work; the one that says “If you could talk to any person, living or dead, who would it be?” I usually answer “Jim Henson” to that question,...
Will You Pray for Me? A Buddhist Perspective on Prayer
By Kellie Schorr When a Christian friend posted on Facebook about a sorrow she was experiencing, the words “prayers” and “praying for you” filled her feed. In a situation like that I usually write “sending love” or “I am with you”---not...
The Hell Realm: What to do When Everything is on Fire (and How Knitting Helps)
By Kellie Schorr In Buddhism we try to transcend such dualism as heaven/hell or good/bad, but there is still the Hell Realm to think about. For those Buddhists who believe in rebirth, the six realms represent a possible...
Finding Compassion in a Time of Ire
By Kellie Schorr I’m a steady and strong person, often the “voice of reason” (even when I’m sometimes unreasonable), and peaceful at deep, still-waters level. I am occasionally funny and often laughable. When I’m involved in those awful group...
The Dharma of Saying Unpleasant Things
By Kellie Schorr “I want you to listen to everything I’m going to say very carefully. Your test results are back and they indicate that you are HIV positive.” What’s the most unpleasant thing you’ve had to tell someone? For me,...
The Dark Wheel: Dealing Constructively with Intrusive Thoughts
By Kellie Schorr It is a pretty day for her long drive home. Sun setting over the hills, trees shimmering in the autumn breeze as smooth jazz plays on the car radio. Life is beautiful. Suddenly, there’s a car in her backseat! Well, not exactly in...
In Defense of a Passionate Practice
By Kellie Schorr “Kleshas are properties that dull the mind and are the basis for all unwholesome actions. The three main kleshas are passion, aggression, and ignorance.” Chögyam Trungpa. The Truth of Suffering and the Path of...
The Bridge: Support Through Trauma & Beyond
By Kellie Schorr It’s the most important two-dollar vase in the world. It wasn’t supposed to be. Lynn picked it up at Goodwill for pocket change because the shimmering glass fit so perfectly with the blue linen weave fabric on her...
The Dragon in the Room: Taking the Fire from Triggered Reactions
By Kellie Schorr I’ve been involved with role playing games since Dungeons and Dragons was played on graph paper with an encyclopedia set of instructions that looked like the love child of quantum physics and Boris Vallejo. When the tiny...
Why Mindfulness Doesn’t Make You the Person You Want To Be
By Kellie Schorr All readers have a literary version of their “first crush”---a muse of sorts. It’s the character who inspires you, or makes you laugh and love in ways you never thought possible, or somehow says the exact words you...
Stop Making Lists and Tracking Your Life…Live It
By Kellie Schorr If I had to write a tag line for Buddhism it would be “We’ve got a list for that!” There’s no question a dharma teacher can’t answer with a list. In fact, there are so many lists in the different traditions that...
After the Sex Scandal: Navigating the Emotions of Shambhala’s Broken Trust
Editor's note: A report recently came out that the Shambhala leader, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women, in which an apology folllowed, by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche himself. By Kellie Schorr The...
Magic Words: The Dharma of Apology
By Kellie Schorr It was just a summer fling, as common as the rain in April. It was fun, fast, and, oh my gosh, so different from dry routine of marital intimacy in the last few years. Her husband stood there with the oozing...