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Relax, And Let The Truth Arrive
Over the past blog posts, we’ve been looking at our tendency to grasp at pleasurable thoughts and push away the painful. If we are attached to either pleasure or pain, we set ourselves up for inevitable disappointment. When the pleasure passes, discontentment arises (“Aw! I wanted more of that!”). Wallowing in pain, discontentment is just…
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Meditation Quote 84: “Only this actual moment is life.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
If life is a series of moments, how come so many of them pass by without us noticing? The sad truth is that many of us get trapped in the past or the future, and in the process missing out on the the present moment. Missing out on life! If you’re one of our avid readers, you might…
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The Feelings That Colors Everything
How do you feel today? Where did this feeling come from? Today we’ll continue our exploration of the second foundation of mindfulness, the contemplation of feeling as feeling. We talked about how when we initially perceive an experience, there is an instantaneous feeling tone of pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. This feeling arises pre-thought. Without even…
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Half A Day Of Meditation Music
I have previously shared long videos with meditation music, but never anything THIS long. A whole HALF A DAY of meditation music. It is a variation of music, ranging from pan flute and string instruments to piano and tibetan singing bowls. This video can be used in several ways: Switch it up by skipping to a random…
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What Does Feeling Have To Do With It?
Two days ago I mentioned how nice it was to have some downtime while on vacation, and how we all need to take this time for ourselves. The last week of my vacation was spent on a 7-day meditation retreat at Spirit Rock. Talk about contrast! The retreat was organized around the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.…
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Interview With Two Regular Meditators
I stumbled across these two interviews on YouTube, and was struck by their awesomeness! Awesome in an ordinary way — ordinary people sharing their extraordinary experiences with meditation. Even thought meditation retreats, seminars and courses are more widely available than ever – us meditators are still a minority, often experiencing life in a different (and I propose…
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The Importance Of Downtime
The first thing I came to understand while traveling in Northern California was the importance of creating downtime. Taking time to really unplug from the routine and enjoy some contrast. Contrast highlights the differences of our surroundings. Without contrast, things can begin to look and feel a bit dull. The edges of our daily experience…
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Meditation Quote 83: “I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.” – Paul Simon
Close your eyes and think of a day or time in your life when all you had on your schedule was to have fun. Do it! Closed your eyes yet…? Perhaps this was as a child in the summer, playing with your best friends on a regular weekend, as a teen living life, or on a well deserved vacation away from…
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What Are You Waiting For?
Today is as good a day as any to step fully into Now, don’t you think? Relaxing at the beach on Sunday, I realized something: I wasn’t at the beach. I mean, I was physically there, but I wasn’t actually there. As I lay on the sand atop my blanket, with the waves crashing melodically,…
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Long Calm Mind Guided Meditation
I recently came across a guided meditation at a website called “Guided Mind”, and I really liked it. What happened next involved a twisted arm, a nice guy, and a free gift. Strange, huh? Let me tell you all about it. As I said it started by me discovering a new guided meditation at a website. I downloaded…