“The Happiest Man in the World”

Last Thursday night, my wife and I attended a fund raising event for the American Himalayan Foundation with guest speaker, Matthieu Ricard, “The happiest man in the world!” Matthieu Ricard has a PhD in biochemistry and became a monk in the Tibetan tradition shortly after receiving it. He is also a humanitarian, advocating altruism and […]

Your Brain at Work

Your Brain at Work is the title of David Rock’s book that presents strategies to overcome distractions, regain focus, and be smarter all day long. One of the most successful strategies is the reappraisal of anything external that causes distress. Like the Buddha‘s teaching of the The Second Arrow, the pain caused by the distress […]

Meditation and the Science of Human Flourishing

Meditation and the Science of Human Flourishing was the name of a workshop which took place last Saturday, June 11, 2016 with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and Dr. Richie Davidson at Stanford University sponsored by The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and Tergar, Rimpoche’s meditation community. Richie talked about how he was […]

Genes do not Necessarily Determine Behavior

In this quote from Richie Davidson, we learn that genes do not necessarily determine behavior. They are like a switch that can be turned on and off, depending on causes and conditions in our lives. “These were the first hints that our emotional and psychological fate does not lie solely within the twists of the […]

Your Secondary Brain

Scientists have known for a long time that your secondary brain is in your gut. This is the origin of the “gut feeling” that we sometimes get when we are about to do something or make an important decision. “The neurons in the gut are so innumerable that many scientists are now calling the totality […]

How to Develop Motivation

These words of wisdom from Tricycle.com by Thupten Jinpa show us how to develop motivation. We will see more on this theme tomorrow from Jon Kabat-Zinn. Thupten Jinpa is best known as the Dalai Lama‘s long-time translator and close friend. At one time, he was also a monk. This man was also partly responsible for […]

5 Reasons Why Mindfulness Will Change The World

This article, which first appeared on the Huffington Post, mentions 5 reasons why mindfulness will change the world in the 2014. It appeared on January 2 as Why 2014 Will Be The Year Of Mindful Living, and this is the first time I have had to review it. Before I go into the 5 reasons […]

9 Ways To Stop Worrying

Now that the holidays are over and many people are back to their normal lives, it may be difficult to keep the spirit of the holidays high. Negative emotions like fear, worry, anxiety, depression, stress, and anger may begin to emerge once more. Even worse, the holidays may have brought little or no relief from […]

Search Inside Yourself

Search Inside Yourself is a popular course at Google and it is also a book describing the course. It was written by Google’s “Jolly Good Fellow,” Chad-Meng Tan, usually called Meng. Meng is associated with The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and The course and the book take the ideas of […]

Is Your Teacher Stressed Out?

Is your teacher stressed out? A new study shows that mindfulness meditation training can help reduce teacher stress and burnout. The study was done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by Lisa Flock in the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM) at UW-Madison’s Waisman Center. CIHM and the Waisman Center are run by Dr. Richie Davidson […]