In one of my favorite passages in one of my favorite dharma books, "Loving Kindness," Sharon Salzberg talks about how she'd been practicing metta, loving kindness meditation, and wasn't sure it was having any effect -- until one morning when she...
What had all the makings for a peaceful evening stroll through the streets of our suburban neighborhood quickly deteriorated into a shout-fest. “Watch it!” I snapped, seeing in my periphery the blade of my son’s new toy slice through the air...
Buddhism is a path of personal responsibility. The concept of karma details how we are responsible for our actions -- across many lifetimes, if you want to take the long view. Buddhist teachings recommend that we constantly take stock of our actions...
We have several lovely weeks of autumn in Chicago. It's a shame that we are rarely here to enjoy them.Fall brings with it a sense of panic. More like terror. You know what's coming and there's nothing you can do to stop it. The slick sidewalks and...
Practicing dharma is not difficult; it comes naturally. It is free from hassle, and it brings a lot of health. As you practice more and more, you find that practice begins to grow inside your bones, in the marrow. Practice becomes natural. It...
I have narrated several audiobooks over the last few years, and in conversation with a publisher some time ago we began discussing Buddhism, meditation, and the Dharma. It was a casual conversation, vague and general. Then I got a call asking if I...
When my kids ask if they can have ice cream, a couple of things happen. My body tenses and I try to push the question away. When that gets me nowhere, I mentally note their recent dietary intake and attempt conviction by responding with...
Wherever we are, we have the ability to be present. On the meditation cushion, we can be present with the physical sensation of our breathing. Off the meditation cushion, we can be present with the people we encounter, our morning commute, the food...
I've been thinking about how relationships, mindfulness, and meditation work. All of them seem to share a striking characteristic. When everyone is happy, they all seem to flow easily. But when someone is feeling a strong emotion (...
I often tell people who come to the weekly meditation group I lead that there is no perfect place to meditate. We meet in a beautiful, serene room -- where we hear yoga students "ommming" in the studio next door, the beeping of the crosswalk signal...
My son reached for my phone and excitedly recorded his question: “Hi, Siri, Can we eat chocolate?!” To which Siri responded, “One moment please.” The phone’s screen then quickly populated with multiple definitions for the word "ejaculate."...
Suffering.
Today I will be fully present with my kids; at least that was my intention for the day. Within two hours I found myself quickly becoming distracted while I was playing with them. My busy brain was distracted by my phone, email, and the...
My plan was to make a video of me conversing with my daughter, pair it with a written blog post, and use the content to talk about how accomplished my offspring are. What really happens: I attempt to talk to my daughter while she spits food on...
I confess, I get caught up in the Apple hype whenever the company releases a new something-or-other, or tweaks the operating system on the old something-or-others already in existence. It’s unlike me, but there you have it. So all last week, I...
The Dalai Lama, the world's best-known Tibetan Buddhist, stirred things up this week with an interview in which he seemed to suggest that he should be the last to hold that title. “The 14th Dalai Lama now is very popular. Let us then finish with a...
[While I attend a dance class, my three-year-old updates my Twitter feed, above.]
A funny thing happened on the way to handing my phone over to my children: I realized I'm attached to the belief, my belief, that putting my kids (or any kids, 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 during parent-teacher night with the room plastered with drawings, learning all about my...
Reddit, founded in 2005 and the dominant site of its kind since at least 2010, bills itself as “the front page of the internet.” It has a tiny staff - most of the lifting is done by hundreds of thousands of active “redditors” who post, comment, and...
A reporter at the Toronto Film Festival, which designated a Bill Murray Day, asked Murray: What is it like to be you? His answer is a gem, and a really good four-minute meditation.
It's a truth of existence that material things won't bring you lasting happiness. Things break. Or get outdated. Maybe the iPhone 5 brought you bliss -- but now the iPhone 6 is about to be introduced. And that might make you even happier. Until you...
When my three-year-old daughter walked into the room wearing her new gift, a pair of plastic, bedazzled play-heels, or princess shoes, as they're often called, I looked down at her feet and felt the urge to vomit. I was instantly overcome...
Sometime this summer I decided that things were out of control. My life was somehow no longer my own, and there was a heavy price being exacted in my health, mental and physical. It’s a realization I’d come to before, but this time I was resolved to...
We don't practice to become better meditators – we practice to become better people. We practice like a doctor practices medicine and like a basketball player practices free throws. We show up for practice, even when it seems silly. We practice like...
