"Things can be basically good, even when circumstances are difficult... ...The secret to all [to being open to our lived experience] is hiding in plain sight. Your feeling, both the capacity for feeling and whatever you feel at any moment in particular, is what makes extraordinary experiences like [being grateful in any situation] commonplace. And they are already … Continue reading Full of Feeling in Any Situation
Tag: meditation
Meditation Without Meditating
"Over the past several decades, studies examining the potential for meditation to curb mental anguish and increase wellbeing have yielded promising, if complicated, results. For patients, complications can arise when meditation is marketed as a ‘happy pill, with no side effects’. This commodification and oversimplification is at the root of a conundrum for Jay Sanguinetti … Continue reading Meditation Without Meditating
The Two Reasons People Fail
"The two reasons that people fail to attain path knowledge and fruition knowledge in this life are bad companionship and insufficient practice or instruction...Today there are many people [who] know the method but never put it into practice or are not serious in their efforts, and so they missed out on attaining path and fruition. … Continue reading The Two Reasons People Fail
Book Summary: Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha
To summarize the main ideas: Thinking is not a substitute for lived experience. The idea of being a mother, combat veteran, a disciple of a spiritual teacher - pick any experience you don't have - and having the idea about it is not the same as having lived it. And, it is worse than that, … Continue reading Book Summary: Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha
Why Meditate?
Note: The following is a summary and paraphrasing of Ayya Khema's Being Nobody, Going Nowhere. Boston, Mass.: Wisdom Publications, 1987. It's the best book on Buddhism I know of. Meditation is not something extra. It is not a hobby to be done in our spare time. It is essential to our well-being. We are all … Continue reading Why Meditate?
The Dream Within The Dream
"This is the idea that we are slaves to Empire, and the world is a prison from which we need to free ourselves, what the gnostics called 'the puny cell of the creator God.' It is what Dick calls the BIP, the Black Iron Prison, which is opposed to the spiritual redemption of the PTG, … Continue reading The Dream Within The Dream
A Deeper Dive: Reflections on a Four-Year Silent Meditation Retreat
"Wherever we may be in our practice, we’ve all at times asked ourselves: What would it be like if I sat a little longer? Perhaps after our first afternoon, or daylong silent retreat, we thought—'I was really able finally to settle in there and experience stillness. It was powerful, and some interesting thoughts arose. What … Continue reading A Deeper Dive: Reflections on a Four-Year Silent Meditation Retreat
Alone in the Jungle
"Capitalism will deplete you, while letting you think you have the means to improve your lot. Indeed, it will attempt to force its therapy on you... Anxiety, and especially depression, as the late social critic Mark Fisher noted, often have social causes, but we are led to believe that we suffer individually and must struggle … Continue reading Alone in the Jungle
Three Steps to Self-Compassion
First: Make the choice that you’ll at least try a new approach to thinking about yourself. Commit to treating yourself more kindly — call it letting go of self-judgment, going easier on yourself, practicing self-compassion or whatever resonates most... ...One of the most portable and evidence-based practices for noticing our thoughts and learning to let … Continue reading Three Steps to Self-Compassion
2018 Experiments, 1st Quarter Follow-up
New Year resolutions always seem like an exercise in futility. Everyone does them. But, it is difficult to get the social support to make any kind of New Year resolution work. Failure is expected. Starting out in the aftermath of a holiday like New Year's Eve probably doesn't help much either. New Year's resolutions tend … Continue reading 2018 Experiments, 1st Quarter Follow-up
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