I noticed a manifestation of my meditation practice crawling across my leg in plain view as my practice was ending this morning. It was black—pitch-black. It was small—smaller than a
Week four, wow! How time flies when you're consuming responsibly. No paper cups were used this week. And... Hazzah, I've done it! I've opened an account with a federal credit union.
It’s not at all unusual to first come around to practice because none of the usual methods for dealing with life seem to work on a long-term basis; relationships have their ups and downs, jobs come and go, money comes in and money goes out,...
In Rebel Buddha Ponlop Rinpoche talks about “spiritual questions”, these questions that are always under the surface, questions that we may ignore, questions we will ask and answer alone. He says we will know we have found the answer when it has not...
Today is the spring equinox. It is also a day-off from school (thanks to official remembrance of the birthday of Benito Juarez), and today is also the day I am starting a 28 day meditation challenge.
Before I begin, I am taking...
Nature always knows precisely what to do. Winter turns to spring, the earth rotates, day comes and night falls, dogs bark and cats meow. But we humans are the only part of nature that stumble around because we aren’t completely sure...
Buddhism is founded on four facts about the nature of existence (the Four Noble Truths), the first fact being that everyone experiences suffering. There is "big" suffering (sickness, pain, and loss) and then there is "ordinary" suffering,...
As we come to the end of February and the end of the 28-Day Meditation Challenge I am thinking about techniques to keep the practice going and alive in our daily lives. As Sharon Salzberg writes in the final chapter Keeping the Practice Going...
I'm infatuated... and I can't think of anything else but the object of my obsession, er... I mean, affection. Even writing this post is troublesome as all I want to do is spend time with my sweetheart, to treasure the joy, pain, decorum and...
When I was in art school I was surrounded by some extremely creative and talented individuals who possessed good vision, good intentions, and good esthetic sensibilities. However, many of us resented having to learn any kind of technique or to apply...
Be, Be, Be….That’s all I can think of as I complete my third solid week of meditation. I realize more and more how important it is to keep a daily meditation practice. As I have said before, I did sway from my practice for...
I returned last night from a week-long Metta meditation retreat at Insight Meditation Society led by Sharon Salzberg, Gina Sharpe and Mark Coleman. For seven days, we simply did sitting and walking meditation in 45 minute sessions for 12...
Our goal is to create a beloved community, and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives. -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., May 4 1966
For the last five years or so I’ve had a permanent brace on my lower teeth. A few days ago, giving to the pressures of time, it broke. Surely, I thought, my teeth will not move after all this time.
They did. Within days.
Day 5: Real Happiness 28-day meditation
This 28 day meditation couldn’t have happened at a better time for me. I had fallen off the wagon, I wasn’t meditating, my New Year’s Resolution had fallen to the wayside. I noticed...
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 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.
