We are acquainted with complication. We know the feeling of being tangled, knee-deep in old resentments or lost in anxiety, listening to the compelling arguments of our reactive mind. In these moments, we are, in a way, disconnected from ourselves. Being tangled up obscures the inner peace mindfulness is meant to reveal. In the words
What makes it so hard to stick with a simple meditation we do every day? What gets in our way, and how can we make meditation a regular part of our lives? The instructions are so simple: relax and just be aware of what is happening in the present moment. And yet we find this
This simple practice helps release unhelpful preoccupations that creep into your mind space as you sit quietly and observe your thoughts. As we release these unhelpful preoccupations, we find less craving for distraction hits like the news. What would it be like to spend more time absorbed in mystery and awe rather than in your
The mind throws up resistance to the process of liberation- but we can metabolize this, allowing deep change and a graceful opening into a timeless presence. The American Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön tells a story about meeting your edge- of a group of people climbing up a very steep mountain. Some made it to the
We can experience deep Buddhist insight by examining our present moment experience of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking. This mind of our is pretty amazing. Our cognitive power propels us to the top of the food chain on this planet, and maybe even on others as we plan the colonization of Mars. But
The other day I read this haiku by the Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa. It stopped my distracted mind in its tracks. What a strange thing!To be alivebeneath cherry blossoms. What a marvel, what a special thing it is to be conscious, to be aware, and to know that we’re aware. We’re not here for that
Do you have a fear of missing out on a more spiritual experience doing a mountain of laundry, washing a sinkful of dishes, or raking leaves till kingdom come? The meditation teacher Karen Maezen Miller, in a piece published in Lion’s Roar, rightfully calls us on this thought, while describing how the domestic lives of
Mindfulness meditation is not just another way to fix what we feel might be broken in our lives. It really helps us be happy. Maybe you struggle with low moods, motivation, or existential malaise. Maybe you feel lonely, or bored. We all do. Mindfulness re-orients us; rather than striving to get rid of stress and
One of the most frequent misunderstandings I hear about meditation practice is it will turn us into non-judgemental zombies. It’s easy to see why one would think this, since mindfulness teaches us to pay attention to our direct experience non-judgmentally, well, then it would seem to follow that we will eventually lose the capacity or