So happy to be doing the Real Happiness 28-day meditation challenge!
Today I feel sad. It frames my morning activity, how I wake up, my walk to the park and phone call to a close friend. It is there when I sit down to practice, but still I am glad...
I suppose I could plausibly say that I am one of the poster children for "Real Happiness." When Shambhala Sun wrote their featured piece last year on Sharon Salzberg's celebrated new book, my photo was right smack up there near the beginning...
I am a morning meditator. It is not because I am good, it is not because I am disciplined.
It is because I am afraid. My morning mind is a slow waking lunatic.
This week Meredith Arena interviews ID Project founder Ethan Nichtern on his new book, Your Emoticons Won't Save You. This is the second of a two part interview.
My thoughts are uglier than your thoughts. What is a thought? Why can’t I catch thoughts? What are thoughts made of? Why can’t I answer this question?
Today I asked my 8 and 9-year-old students where their thoughts came from? Here are the...
"..rich people don't create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is the feedback loop between customers and businesses.." - Nick Henauer
The news about neural plasticity, the ability of the human brain to develop new neural pathways through repetition, is quite encouraging. It affirms what the old yogis and meditation masters have been saying about the nature of the mind for...
When I was seven years old, my First Grade teacher asked everyone to draw what they wanted to be when they grew up. I remember walking around my classroom, learning all about my classmates’ long-term aspirations. Not surprisingly for this Manhattan...
One thing I have heard a few times on Krista Tippet's show on NPR called On Being is that happiness is a practice. This idea inspires me and me gives me hope that we can all be happy. It also highlights the fact that our society is confused about...
I went on a few dates recently, and after each I spun a web of expectation and fantasy in my head. One man was a psychologist, and I imagined (after two dates) that we would marry, and teach couples' workshops together, and live in Park Slope...
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My new book, Your Emoticons Won't Save You, came out with a very limited release on my website as a print copy and as an ebook. We had very few advanced readers, so I'm just starting to...
Hi gang:
Last week a question was raised RE Dalai Lama and Marxism. Since this is the activist group I would like to respond because I lived in a socialist (communist) county during my early days.
This week Meredith Arena interviews ID Project founder Ethan Nichtern on his new book, Your Emoticons Won't Save You. This is the first of a two part interview.
There’s that silly argument about disappointment that goes something like this: since you don’t live in a hut, and you’re not a slave, and you’re not starving, then you have no right to be disappointed. It’s silly because it doesn’t...
"Our most fundamental sense of well-being is derived from the conscious experience of belonging. Relatedness is essential to survival."
Tara Brach
We get older in illogical increments. Birthdays pass and pass, but there are some years,...
"What if...instead of creating another rule..Buffet and Obama got the ball rolling on economic equality by creating a “Pool” [of Capital] instead of a rule."
I find it very difficult to relate to Newt Gingrich. In fact I just don’t like him very much at all. So the idea of having compassion for him is extremely challenging since it’s easiest to have compassion for those people or groups of people with...
I recently tried to set up an introduction to meditation during lunch hour at my work. I found myself contemplating how religion and meditation are related because I had to assure people that this was not a religious thing. Of course, there doesn't...
"I just did something really stupid." "If I weren't always impatient, I'd be a better person." "It was my fault, I screwed it up again." "I should pay attention and not make so many mistakes." "That was a dumb thing to do."...
Lately I've found myself nursing a deep well of grief as I daily witness how both people and the planet suffer from rampant materialism. Since I’ve settled into a lifestyle that includes little in the way of accumulation, I can feel in...
