Newsletter Archive
How Preferences Prejudice Your Perceptions
Look around you. What do you notice? There are endless things in both your external and internal environment that you could notice. Given that you can’t possibly notice everything, why do you notice what you do? What you perceive from among all
Maintaining Mindfulness in Daily Life
Instead of staying mindful of whatever is happening in the moment, we immediately begin to interpret our experience and create a story based on past associations and attitudes we have about ourselves and others. However, our interpretation is
Managing Fatigue with Mindfulness
Most of us dislike being fatigued and aren’t fully open to experiencing it. However, when we practice vipassana, we use mindfulness to see the dukkha (suffering) in all of our experiences; therefore, we can treat fatigue as one more experience that can be known.
Our Addiction to Preferences
Buddhadharma places a lot of emphasis on being mindful of our preferences. When we start to pay attention to our preferences, we quickly notice that we prefer what’s pleasant, what will make us happy. There is nothing wrong per se with having preferences, but our attachment to, clinging to, and identifying
Releasing the Past through Investigation
The more painful your feelings, the more likely you are to hold the experience at bay, never able to fully let it in so that it can be processed and relinquished. Nor are you able to let it go, since that would first require allowing it to permeate you to
Self-Soothing during Difficult Times
We’ve all experienced how unsettling and uncertain life can be and how easily we can be knocked off center at any moment. When we’re not in balance, we can become defined by whatever’s happening and get caught in what I call “reactive mind.”
Starting Your Day with Clarity
When you wake up in the morning, does your mind automatically launch into planning for the day ahead such that you’re already tense by the time you get out of bed? Do you often wake up feeling agitated or fuzzy headed or filled with a sense of dread?
Taking in the Good Meditation
When you are experiencing difficulty in some aspect of your life that is clouding your mind and causing you to contract, practicing this meditation can help soothe your suffering and clarify your thinking.