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
Life for me right now is good. I returned from two months of intensive practice in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. My health is OK. I even went to the gym yesterday. Yet stuff comes up. Not because of anything in particular. I’m sitting here typing this and I sense some uneasiness, some anxiety, perhaps a
One of my first meditation teachers, Sharon Salzberg, often talks about her early days learning how to meditate in India under her teacher, Munindra. One of his first counsels to her was: Try to be with each breath as though it was your first, and as though it was your last. Anagarika Munindra Being with
The title here steals from Carson McCuller’s remarkable debut novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, published in 1940 when she was only 23. Our mind can easily turn into a lonely hunter when it thinks there is something to get or achieve in meditation. When we eat breakfast, can we just eat? Just taste
What makes the difference in the contemplative life are the qualities of heart we bring to our everyday experiences. When asked the value of contemplative life, the 13th century Japanese monk Dogen said it allowed him to feel “an intimacy with all things.” Mindfulness allows us to see a flower, or watch a sunset, or
As you set out on your meditation journey- avoid aggressive self-improvement. There isn’t anything to improve; the present moment is just fine as it is. One of the trickiest aspects of mindfulness meditation is the whole thing about letting go of goals. It seems to make no sense at all to not have any goal
As we let go of expectations in our mindfulness practice, it generalizes in our life-we are more present and responsive, and less reactive. Buddhist practice is not so much about answering the so-called big questions of life and death, but rather about dissolving the angst around the questions themselves. mindfulness is about appreciating the present
There is a way to live your ordinary life in pristine peace and joy just as it is right now. This is the way of everyday mysticism, yet it’s not about any “ism” at all. This year, I don’t think I’ll make any resolutions. Well, except for maybe one. I resolve to live a little
Just what sorts of insights do you get from meditation? Mindfulness meditation also goes by the moniker Vipassana, or insight meditation. When I mentioned this in our weekly classes some years ago, someone asked me well, just what sorts of insights do you get from meditating? the insights from meditation I was tempted to launch