The way the story goes, when Siddhartha sat under the Bodhi tree and meditated on the night he was to become the Buddha, the god Mara slung arrows at him all night. Mara is essentially the god of Shadow, and his arrows were manifestations of all the unawakened thoughts and emotions of Siddhartha’s human experience. […]
How Are You?
“Hey, how are you?” “Fine, thanks. How are you?” “Good.” This interaction is certainly familiar to all of us – as part of our saying “hello” we include a “how are you?” Yet how often does that question really prompt a deep and thoughtful response instead of the knee-jerk platitude? Consider how it feels when […]
Your Mindful To-Do List
Who doesn’t have a to-do list? That familiar cascade of items which never seems to clear fully. It sure seems that as soon as it shortens, twelve more things find their way on the end of that list (or jump to the top of it), bringing us back to square one. It’s great to be […]
An Exercise In Mindful Empowerment
It’s Not Supposed To Be This Way! How many times have you expressed this sentiment? It happens in gross and subtle ways all the time for most of us. We fight against things that are out of our control. The problem is, it’s a huge source of inner friction, yet most of us keep doing […]
Letting Go And Coming Home
There is a myth about meditation. A lot of people think that it is something you can do well or do poorly. I often work with people who are brand new to meditation. Sometimes they say they have “tried it but haven’t done it right” or feel that they “can’t do it.” But here’s the thing. […]