I just finished a 5-day contemplative care training at our local Zen center. Some people refer to this as death doula training. It was moving, poignant, and heart-wrenching in the best way. And needless to say, I shed more than a few tears as we confronted some of the more fragile parts of ourselves. Directly […]
Be Open to Something New
When we’re young, everything is new. Everything is exciting. What joy a toddler has learning about gravity, experiencing the sheer amazement of mailboxes, or to work their fingers. They soak up life like a sponge. Yet at some point in the child’s development, the rate at which he is experiencing and learning new things […]
How to Do Less and Achieve Success
“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…” – Theodore Roosevelt That’s one way of looking at things. The less popular theory, especially in the U.S., is do less to achieve more. Neither is 100% right or wrong. Strike a balance. Be effortless in meditation and swiftly […]
Mindfulness… Then What?
A client of mine, who is a doctor, recounted a story where a patient of his came back to his hospital weeks after he had been seen. His patient was irate, feeling my client hadn’t “put the dots together” and therefore didn’t prevent his heart attack. My client, with decades of experience under his […]
The Journey of Meditation
Meditation is a practice. Nobody can meditate perfectly. In our world of instant gratification, we are conditioned to look for immediate results. If the results don’t show up immediately, then it’s easy to decide that it’s not worth it. However, meditation is the antithesis (and also the remedy) to this approach. Sunshine and Roses It […]