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
Mindfulness allows us to live into all that cannot be solved. It’s also a gateway to equanimity, the peace of the present moment. The other day, I listened to a podcast of an interview with Frank Osteseki, who is a pioneer in end-of-life care, founding in 1987 the Zen Hospice Project, the first Buddhist hospice
This is our work: to live wisely, not in contention with anything, and able to love. What does it mean to practice Dharma in the home stretch of 2023, with all the wars, hate crimes, refugee crises, and environmental catastrophes all over the world? I would offer a short and simple response, quoting Sylvia Boorstein,
We savor our life just as it is, messy, littered with abandoned to-do lists and unfulfilled expectations. We appreciate our life now, we’re not just managing it. When asked about the fruit of meditative life, the 13th century Japanese monk Dogen Zenji replied: “enlightenment is intimacy with all things.” Mindfulness allows us to intimately
There is something unspeakably beautiful about mindful listening to the rain. Not just hearing the rain, but really listening. I love the way Thomas Merton describes mindful listening. One morning he awoke to the rain in the cool, pre-dawn hours in his monastery in rural Kentucky: What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone,
I decided to not make any new year’s resolutions. Well, except maybe one. I resolve to just be myself. I always felt making a set of resolutions meant needing to improve myself, be better at something, or change my body somehow. The blogger Krista O’Reilly-Davi-Digui, a working, single mom who writes about minimalism and the
When asked about the fruit of the spiritual life, the 13th century Japanese monk Dogen Zenji replied: “Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.” Mindfulness allows us to intimately see a flower, or watch a sunset, or eat a mango, with nothing in between us and the experience. connection with life as it is Breath by