Why Do We Suffer?

If you understood my last post, you may remember that there are many ways we cause ourselves to suffer. What we don’t realize is that often the suffering is momentary and we get lost in the story instead of recognizing the impermanent nature of our sensations, feelings and thoughts. Once we understand this, we can […]

Taking Care of Anger

At a recent meeting of our Mindfulness In Healing sangha (meditation group) we discussed the Mindfulness Training #6, Taking Care of Anger. This training reads, Aware that anger blocks communication and creates suffering, we are committed to taking care of the energy of anger when it arises, recognizing and transforming the seeds of anger that […]

Interbeing with All Life

When I discussed interbeing with all life with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson several years ago, he said, I would say in modern times, (I need to define modern as in the last century).  What you said recent times was 25 years.  In modern times, we have come to learn about ecology.  I’ll use a single […]

True Presence

What are the attributes of true presence? How do we learn to cultivate and activate them? Cheri Huber advises us that, Only presence gives us what our hearts long for. So simple, easy, beautiful and affordable! Costs us nothing; gives us everything. – Cheri Huber Her close friend, Ashwini Narayanan adds, With practice, it becomes […]

Nurturing Practices

This article is a summary of a wonderful dharma talk on nurturing practices given by Sister Mai Nghiem, a French nun and Dharma Teacher in the Plum Village Tradition. The dharma talk was given on April 29th, 2016 at the Earth Holder Retreat at the Deer Park Monastery last week. I was especially moved by […]

Mindfulness in Daily Life

These words of wisdom for Zen Master Eihei Dogen teach us about mindfulness in daily life. This is actually quite a universal teaching these days by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Phillip Moffitt, and many others. The idea is to take your mindfulness into your life in order to enrich your everyday experience. […]

Practice Daily Meditation

The fourth of the Seven Principles of Mindfulness in Healing from the book, Healing with the Seven Principles of Mindfulness is to practice daily meditation. Here is why. Meditation strengthens the mind like exercise strengthens the body. With daily exercise, your muscles become toned and your body feels great. If you miss a day or […]

Cultivating a Heart of Compassion

These words of wisdom from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh are about cultivating a heart of compassion. This is done by the practice of metta (loving kindness) meditation. We have seen many articles the speak to metta meditation. The approach in this Tricycle.com article by Thay (as Thich Nhat Hanh is known to his followers) […]

More Teachings of the Buddha

Here are some more teachings of the Buddha from one of my favorites, Sharon Salzberg. These teachings are similar to ones that we have learned from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, dharma teacher, Glen Schneider, and the  Order of Interbeing. Sharon invites us to contemplate the forces of greed, grasping, hatred, and delusion in our […]

A Precious Human Life

Here are two nice verses on a precious human life. The first one is from the Dalai Lama. A Precious Human Life Every day, think as you wake up: “Today I am fortunate to have woken up. I am alive, I have a precious human life. I am not going to waste it. I am […]