Dear Friends, With right view, we understand that actions have consequences, and that suffering is caused by the way we cling. Right intention helps aim towards cultivating less suffering by renouncing grasping, and cultivating goodwill and compassion. So with our hearts and minds thus aligned, we can now take this intention into the world. So enters the next… Read More »
Dear Friends, In the track titled Poem, DaRa reads “She Let Go” by Safire Rose. This poem expresses another way we can bring equanimity to our experience. The theme of the New Year’s retreat I did with Susie Harrington at the beginning of the month was about the stories we tell ourselves – the views we cling to,… Read More »
Dear Friends, My Facebook feed on Friday had the following news: beloved teacher Thich Nhat Hanh has passed away peacefully at Từ Hiếu Temple in Huế, Vietnam, at 00:00hrs on 22nd January, 2022, at the age of 95. We invite our global spiritual family to take a few moments to be still, to come back to our mindful… Read More »
Dear Friends, Thich Nhat Hanh taught: Chew your food, not your worries Sometimes we eat, but we aren’t thinking of our food. We’re thinking of the past or the future or mulling over some worry or anxiety again and again. So stop thinking about your business, about the office, or about anything that isn’t happening right now. Don’t… Read More »
Dear Friends, There’s a Pāli word, dukkha, that Christina Feldman discusses in the context of compassion. Dukkha has many different translations. Some of the original translators used the word “suffering”, but more recent translators use words like unsatisfactoriness, stress, dis-ease. (An article by Glenn Wallis lists several alternative translations:https://www.lionsroar.com/what-is-dukkha/ ) Joseph Goldstein has described the origins of the… Read More »
Dear Friends, There are many ways to cultivate mettā. Many teachers will lead a practice with the use of phrases. I like how Christina Feldman describes the purpose of these phrases: “The conscious cultivation of metta as a meditative pathway employs the use of a few simple phrases that give shape and language to the intention of metta.… Read More »
Dear Friends, As we pay attention to our breath, we can start to notice that each breath has a beginning, middle, and end. As we pay attention to sensations in the body, we can also notice how they too have a beginning, middle, and end. Thoughts, emotions, difficulties, pleasantness – have a beginning, middle, and end. Your favorite tea… Read More »
Dear Friends, After January 1’s post on Intention, Rod commented that actions are needed to make intentions meaningful. I think Rod’s comments align with this sentiment from Thich Nhat Hanh: Chapter 3 of The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English looks at clear comprehension, a way of seeing precisely what is happening in this moment and using that to… Read More »
Dear Friends, Did you try the 10 bite experiment? I tell you how it went for me. The first bite, I really savored the fresh bread and nutty and subtly sweet flavor of the cheese on the sandwich I made for supper. The second bite was still good. But I’m not sure I made it to three… I… Read More »
Dear Friends, I bet a large majority of the people reading this email are reading it on a mobile phone or tablet… Right? And if not, then on a computer, of course… So a suggestion for today – bring embodied awareness to your interaction with your tech. The Cards for Mindfulness deck includes this suggestion: It is often… Read More »
Dear Friends, It’s Monday, and I am back to the regular work routine. Many of my colleagues who were on holidays the last couple of weeks are back as well, so the office will be buzzing with activity. It’s on busy days like this that I often find I neglect to make space for mindfulness. So here’s a… Read More »
