Blending the science of well-being with the wisdom of ancient contemplative practice.
Mindfulness in the Heartland
every moment matters
I must state clearly that my teaching is a method to experience reality and not reality itself, just as a finger pointing at the moon is not the moon itself. A thinking person makes use of the finger to see the moon. A person who only looks at the finger and mistakes it for the …
Be a light unto yourself. – Buddha This year, in solidarity with my friend and fellow blogger, Kathleen Fisher (aka A Speckled Trout), I submitted a piece of writing to Listen to Your Mother. For those of you unfamiliar, Listen to Your Mother is a national series of original live readings about motherhood shared locally …
Last week I posted a teaching from the Buddha called, The Second Arrow. In this teaching he suggests personal suffering is increased by resisting the original sources of pain (access the original post here). Well, wouldn’t you know it, I had first hand experience with a second arrow this past week. Not wanting to lose …
Buddha spoke about the nature of suffering in a teaching often referred to as, The Second Arrow: “When touched with a feeling of pain, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. So he feels two pains, physical & mental. Just as if they were to shoot a man with an …
“Do not spread the compost on the weeds.” ― William Shakespeare, Hamlet We’ve had a long winter here in the Midwest! Personally, I’m very happy to see that spring is finally springing. In preparation for the growing season ahead, I’ve been out in my garden quite a bit this past …
There was a time in my life when my emotions were often at the mercy of my thought processes. The tendency of my mind was to focus on “problems” and what was wrong about the world around me. Accordingly, I not only suffered with needless stress but positive emotions were also fleeting. Commitment to formal …
This week’s post is a reflection on the parable of The Stonecutter, from Benjamin Hoff’s, The Tao of Pooh There was once a stonecutter, who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life. One day, he passed a wealthy merchant’s house, and through the open gateway, saw many fine possessions and important visitors. …
The mind is everything. What you think you become. – Buddha Often times, when I talk with people about meditation practice, they indicate their minds are too busy and erroneously believe this disqualifies them as a potential practitioner. It is a common misconception to believe that the goal of meditation is to silence the mind; …
“Let others see their own greatness when looking in your eyes.” ― Mollie Marti There are those among us who encourage our growth solely through their presence in our lives. Perhaps you are fortunate enough to know the type of person I’m talking about… They are the sort of people who walk around with their hearts …
Oh, now, now, now, the only now, and above all now, and there is no other now but thou now and now is thy prophet. ― Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls Death is an inevitability. No one can avoid the tolling of the bell. Yet, it is stunning to recognize how little we …
Ready or not, here they come…. The holidays are upon us! As if life wasn’t already busy enough, many of us are now planning parties, gift giving, travel, and spending a great deal of time socializing. To avoid getting swept away by the frenetic holiday pace, I’ve compiled a list of ideas that can be …
I was introduced to a version of the allegory below years ago. Its truth struck a chord within me. Not so much for its discourse on the nature of the afterlife, but as a meditation on how our perceptions ultimately influence the experience we have as we walk through life. The Allegory of the Long …
Things without all remedy should be without regard: what’s done is done. – William Shakespeare, Macbeth We all make decisions at some point in our lives that leave us with outcomes we may later recognize were not in our best interest. Such is life. I have yet to meet a person who hasn’t had to …
Meditation is a microcosm, a model, a mirror. The skills we practice when we sit are transferable to the rest of our lives. ― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time, you know I am a huge advocate of meditation. It has been part of …
The warrior is Here, Now. ― Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior This past week I reached a breaking point with a situation in our neighborhood that has been unfolding for quite some time. For the past two years we’ve lived in close proximity to a house that has become “party central” for a …
Suffering is necessary until you realize it is unnecessary. –Eckhart Tolle As pronounced a presence that suffering plays in our human experience, it is surprising how little we talk about the significance of its role in our lives. Maybe it’s the fact that our minds can never truly bring its logical weight to bear on …
Shame is a soul eating emotion. ― C.G. Jung These days, I generally don’t pay much mind to the comings and goings in popular culture, as I have long conceded an inability to relate to it. With that being said, however, the recent social commentary on Miley Cyrus’ performance at the Video Music Awards has …
Rebel children, I urge you, fight the turgid slick of conformity with which they seek to smother your glory. ― Russell Brand When I’m witness to one of my children losing it over some ridiculously innocuous moment…for instance, this morning when my daughter laid into me because I didn’t cut her banana exactly the way …
At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want. -Lao Tzu Throughout periods of my life I have been surrounded by chaos of one kind or another. Sometimes the chaos was a result of trying to keep up with the unrealistic pace …
Housekeeping ain’t no joke. —Louisa May Alcott It wasn’t too terribly long ago that the work of home was relegated solely to the woman of the house. It was she that nurtured spirits, nourished bodies, and maintained the order of the collective community. Mother, wife, daughter was the goddess that ruled over all things domestic. …
“To rid yourself of old patterns, focus all your energy not on struggling with the old, but on building the new.” – Way of the Peaceful Warrior (2006) by Dan Millman Have you ever felt stuck in a situation? Do you run up against the same problem over and over in a professional …
“The soul is healed by being with children.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky I often refer to my children as my “little gurus” not only because their sheer existence teaches me so much about the nature of life, but because …
There’s only one effectively redemptive sacrifice, the sacrifice of self-will to make room for the knowledge of God – Aldous Huxley I once heard Marianne Williamson compare the human capacity to manifest personal desires to the talent of a magician. She said, we all have the ability to make our intentions happen, much like a …
The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or a hostile universe. – Albert Einstein Are there areas of your life in which you never seem able to manifest a positive outcome? Do you see the same situation playing itself out over and over again with different players? …
