Explore your relationship to yourself, your world and others. Learn tools and techniques to better understand how your mind creates your reality. Discover how what you think impacts how you experience your life. Consider the possibility that we chose to be here and that we are part of the same thing.
Joy 101 — How to Open the Door to Your Emotions - Joy, or her gentler sister, happiness, can seem elusive. We have been told by our society we will be happy when we achieve a goal or gain an item we have coveted. I’m here to tell you joy can be found without any of that. Not only can it be found, without those items and experiences,…
Meditation 101 — 4 Things You Need to Know - When someone says they exercise, it really does not describe what they do. That’s not to say they may or may not actually exercise, it is just that what one person considers exercise may be the typical day for a person who does not consider themselves an “exerciser” at all. A completely sedentary individual may…
Moments - Our life is composed of moments. We like to dream about wonderful things like unfathomable riches, or a great vacation, getting that ring or promotion, but the truth is, we are living right now. So, how do you feel right now? It is not too much of a leap to guess that you are warm,…
Stories we Tell Ourselves - The overlaps between both the ancient and the modern spiritual philosophies is significant to me. Recently, at my Vipassana retreat, Goenkaji spoke about “Saṅkhāra” he explained craving and aversion as causing these. Basically, he was discussing thoughts that form when you are not happy with the present moment. All of the regrets, worries, hopes and desires…
What if We Chose to Be Here? - It seemed like a simple question, but the more I pondered it the more I recognized it was rewriting how I told my story. For years, I’ve said, “I think I chose to be here” and in a recent conversation with a friend, I turned it around and said, “What if we all chose to…
Writing About Writing - I realized in an inside-out way that I was thinking about writing about writing and it seemed so peculiar and strange. I often just “feel” like capturing a moment, the way that I’m feeling at the time and I started to form the thoughts and then it hit me, “I want to write a blog…
Spring a Reminder of Change - Today is the quintessential first day of spring. Not the calendar month or the day with the highest temperature, the first day of the season. It is no longer winter. There may yet be snow but the snow that is here is melting. There is a slow rhythm of the drips as winter washes away.…
My Brain in the Pool - Breath, stroke, breath, stroke, the rhythmic splash of the water and the bubbles when I exhale become the focus of my mind. I love swimming. It is relaxing for me and a good example of not sitting in the lotus position to meditate. I completely “fall” into the rush of the water, the curl at…
Camino de Santiago - I am amazed at how many different aspects there are to the allure of the Camino de Santiago trail in Spain. Many religious figures and celebrities have travelled this route, across the top of Spain, and been buried along the way — the religious figures, not the celebrities. In addition to that, it was once…
- Creative Inspiration - In one of my favourite Ted Talks, Elizabeth Gilbert speaks about her elusive creative genius that she feels is part of her, but not quite her. I have watched this brave video a couple of times because it is so “out there”. People do not talk about creative genius as something external to themselves or…