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…
In a web-series from a few years ago hosted by Jerry Seinfeld, the comedian Garry Shandling recalls telling a joke once to an audience of Buddhist monks, one of whom was the Dalai Lama. Side note here: Garry, who passed away in 2016, was a longtime Buddhist practitioner and a student of Thich Nhat Hanh.…
My news feed can incline my mind toward fear, confusion and anger. But I can also re-frame my news feed to spark compassion for the suffering of others. The news. OMG, how to deal with the news? The horrors in Ukraine, and the suffering of forced migration are just one of multiple national and world…
Buddhism offers us a path to decolonize the mind, thankfully. It not only teaches inclusion, it points out the shared insanity of separateness that causes so much suffering. Lama Thubten Yeshe was one of the first Tibetans to teach Buddhism to Westerners. I went to see him in Nepal, but he had just left to…
Ram Dass encouraged us to embrace our foolish selves rather than try to fix them I heard the news as I was driving home from work this past Tuesday morning. Ram Dass was dead. Maybe I will remember this drive home like I still remember that bleak winter day in late November in…
Your well-being is actually independent of conditions. As your practice matures over time, the feeling of well-being arises more frequently and in all kinds of situations. We have all we need to lead a fulfilling life now. If you can breathe, you can be mindful. We may feel a little chagrined finding ourselves in those…
Even though it’s not the end of the year yet, Thanksgiving has always been a time of reflection for me. I look back with chagrin at all my failures and aspirations. And I think about our world. We don’t have to look too far to see how much pain we have been through…
Understanding the central message of the Buddhist traditions can be a complex undertaking. I have met several people who have dedicated their entire adult lives to studying the sutras in the original languages. While their ability to synthesize complex topics into understandable English is impressive, I did not feel their hearts were liberated from what…
The meditation practice of metta, or loving-kindness, has had a profound effect on me over the years. I would like to touch on some of these as an offer of encouragement to discover the healing depth and profound re-orientation metta offers those who are drawn to mindfulness. greater self-acceptance Metta helps me accept myself as…
A complaint I sometimes hear from folks who are trying to be happy by practicing meditation is that meditation is just not working. Putting effort to change your mental state does sometimes lead to frustration. Gratefulness, however, is a wholesome mental state which changes everything. notice when you naturally feel content in your daily life…