Confession: I have been meditating for almost five years now and I still grind my teeth. My dentist was adamant - stop it (she lamented, how many people are not grinding their teeth these days?). I have resisted getting a night guard, because, holy...
At the Wisdom 2.0 conference in San Francisco last week, a panel of Google executives speaking about corporate mindfulness was disrupted by protestors who accuse the company of "appropriating the language of counterculture and Buddhism" while...
Psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan study motivation. In particular, they have been interested in what makes people intrinsically motivated at work, school, etc. The theory, called Self-Determination Theory, states basically that humans...
The workplace is like an incubator for the ego. The fact that we care about our work means that we often become identified with it. Our sense of self-worth can become wrapped up in it, even if the job is not our chosen field or career, but just a...
One day I got home from work and found the electricity was off. I reported it to the power company, which gave me an estimate of 90 minutes or so, but when I called back at that time to check, it wasn't even listed as an outage.
Even a fleeting thought of him made every other aspect of my life seem somehow lighter, more meaningful, and more manageable. An overwhelming well of emotions arose within my heart whenever I’d recall the raspy quality of his voice, the dimple that...
When I sit down to meditate before a hectic brunch shift, I am doing something kind for myself. When I make contact with the cushion after a day of waiting tables, I am making space for myself to feel cared for. Meditation has helped me learn to...
School shootings. Devastating storms. Never-ending political scandals. Fear, disgust, and mental anguish are the “new normal.” Life these days is difficult, and you can see the impact on people’s behavior.
Image: Rodolfo Amoedo
I wonder if you’ve noticed that when a depressed episode comes on, our bodies feel frozen. Moving feels like trudging through thick molasses, yet the volume of our thoughts are loud and clear: “You’re a loser! You can’t even...
Sharon Salzberg's recommendation to open to what is; be it pleasant or unpleasant, prompts me to use my (cold!) morning walking routine with my dogs to get curious.
This is the second in a series of videos promoting Sharon's latest release, "...
A power company in the United Kingdom has 16 meditation instructors on staff -- to help ease the stress felt by workers who remain after 1,400 are laid off and 700 more are told they'll lose their jobs if they can't get to new offices that are 30...
I sometimes ask people how often they multitask, whether they feel like they need to do it in order to succeed, and how good they are at it. Not surprisingly, most people say they multitask a lot, that it is necessary for their success, and...
Any discussion of Real Happiness at Work for me would be remiss without a mention of TRAFFIC. When I remarried five years ago, I relocated to my partner’s home across town, which puts me squarely in the jaws of the nation’s worst traffic as I trek...
I'm intrigued by the idea of self-compassion, as described by Sharon Salzberg in "Real Happiness at Work." It feels foreign and exotic to me, like something people do in some remote land just discovered by intrepid explorers. Shangri-la, maybe --...
I earn my living at a diner in Brooklyn, and trust me it is rich with fodder for practice. Keeping my equanimity during a lengthy brunch shift is definitely a challenge, but it's all in how I meet it.
Once the Buddha was walking through a village when he encountered an angry man who got in his face and began yelling at him, saying things like “You have no right to be teaching others, you’re just a big fake and just as confused as everyone else!”...
"No working life comes without challenges, conflicts, pressures, setbacks, or moments of sheer exhaustion. Happiness at work depends on our ability to cope with the obstacles that come our way and to bounce back, learn from mistakes, make amends...
Some days, I roll out of bed, head to the kitchen for a glass of water, see my best friend and think – what the hell are you doing in my house? And then I remember: oh yeah, she lives here.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, the marvelous actor who died recently with bags of heroin around him, was interviewed about a year ago by Simon Critchley at the Rubin Museum. The topic was happiness, and it's poignant, almost painful, to listen to now.
I am so loving Sharon Salzberg’s new book Real Happiness at Work, which I agreed to read, put into practice, and blog about for the next month. This week’s focus was on understanding how gathering our scattered mind through practicing...
When I tell people I work as the Executive Director at The Interdependence Project, a meditation and dharma center, most think I must have the most stress-free job in the world. Unfortunately, running a busy non-profit with 2.5 employees in...
An invitation to blog in promotion of Sharon Salzberg's latest book release inspires me to investigate my own perceptions of work, which can be limiting, and also shift to be liberating.
Does Buddhism have a goth side? Take a look at Buddhist Hell, Buddhist vampires, thigh bone trumpets played in charnel grounds, and decide for yourself.
