Reading Time: 5 minutes The first noble truth of Buddhism is simply dukkha–the reality of suffering. Though it is often translated as life is suffering, I prefer to think of it as the plain observation that there is suffering in the world. There is small s suffering–spilling your morning coffee on your lap while driving in traffic–and big S […]
How to Turn Your Pain into Medicine Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutes If you practice in a meditation community for any period of time, it will not be long before you hear a reference to the monkey mind. The monkey mind is a concept used to describe how the mind behaves, which is typically pretty erratic. It jumps from one thought branch to another thought branch, endlessly
Moving Beyond the Monkey Mind Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutes Every couple experiences conflict. It is an inevitable fact of life that when two people meet, there are going to be challenges. That is because every relationship is a meeting of two previously separate and distinct worlds. One person prefers things a bit messy, the other needs cleanliness. One person is a night owl, another
Don’t Argue to Win, Argue to Understand Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutes One of the most profound and simultaneously challenging insights on the spiritual path is that our mind is inherently dual in its thinking and there are nondual ways to be in the world. To make things even more interesting, there is the common teaching that when we do experience even the slightest hint of nondual
Without “I” There Is No “Other” Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutes In the singer Amanda Palmer’s TED talk on The Art of Asking, she talks about working as a living statue and handing out flowers to passersby. She shares how impactful it was to share silent eye contact with a stranger. With her eyes she would try to say, “I see you,” and their eyes would
To Love is to Understand Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutes The experience of love tends to have two sides. The first side says that love is the most beautiful, powerful, and meaningful experience on the planet. This side is bolstered by research that says humans are literally born for love: we are social beings, we thrive on social connection, and we need to feel a
Why Every Couple Should Meditate If They Want to Stay Together Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutes I want you to imagine for a moment that you have never seen rain. Imagine you are an alien from another planet, visiting earth for the first time. You’re sitting on a human’s front porch, looking out into the world, and seeing what this “Planet Earth” is all about. Just then, an extraordinary sight suddenly
The Greatest Obstacle to Happiness Read More »
Reading Time: 4 minutes Two weeks ago I wrote about how every new relationship should be aware of the natural phenomenon that typically occurs a year or two into a relationship. Namely, couples will experience a slow ebbing of passion and excitement as they transition from the lust and romance stages of their relationship to the connection and commitment
Five Ways to Keep Your New Relationship Energy Alive Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutes Last week, I wrote about the basic idea that you cannot love someone and try to change them at the same time, because if you are trying to change someone, you aren’t really loving them; you are just loving parts of them. I also mentioned that this perspective also puts us on a path to
The Unconditional Love of Spiritual Awakening Read More »
Reading Time: 4 minutes Imagine laying in bed with your lover/partner/spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend/FWB, and you ask them, “Honey, do you love me?” And even though you already know this person loves you and you have already heard them tell you countless times, in this moment, you want to hear it; hearing their answer will help you feel more connected and less
You Cannot Love Someone and Try to Change Them at the Same Time Read More »
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