Developing mindfulness and awareness can be like riding whitewater rapids. It’s easy to talk about, but actually doing it requires inner strength, stamina, and a firm resolve. The way to develop this inner strength and stamina is to take every opportunity to practice it, bit by bit. In this post I’ll tell you eight of […]
More than anyone else, my Buddhist teachers taught me how to relate to questions and questioning. They taught me the art of inquiry which led to what I now call Therapeutic Inquiry. This kind of inquiry is the most important skill I teach to my clients, as well as to students in the Finding True […]
A couple came to see me once, and they were very grumpy with each other. They’d had a big fight the previous week, and it was so bad that the woman’s husband had actually packed his bags and was ready to go out the door. I said, “Wow! What was the fight about?” The husband […]
Anxiety — What is it good for? Absolutely Nothin! I am writing to myself as much as to you today. Because over the years I’ve noticed there’s a sneaky quality to my anxiety. Whenever I notice it sneaking up, I’ve developed certain ways of talking to myself, to rouse the courage to challenge this self-defeating attitude. Here are my […]
At the end of this post you’ll have learned three science-backed ways to beat stress – methods that will bring a profound relaxation into your days, even if you’re a person who must make many daily decisions. By way of introducing these techniques, you’ll find it useful to know what scientists have discovered about how […]
It’s no secret that our personal associations with the holidays can bring us sorrow as well as joy. Extremes of happiness and sadness may have good cause. In my case, wonderful memories of warm celebrations filled with great food, gifts, and rowdy cousins to play with, are tempered by the memory of my 20th year: after […]
I’ve often heard people say that we eat mindlessly. This isn’t quite accurate, though. Actually, while we eat, we spend most of our time daydreaming. This daydreaming is a form of hypnosis. Under hypnosis you can become so focused on the contents of your mind that you lose awareness of the external environment. You can […]
My most important insights about applying mindfulness to work are grounded in an experience I had as head of the kitchen during a sesshin at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in 1971. Since it was a week-long sesshin – all day sitting, every day – you might imagine there was a serene atmosphere about the place. Well, […]
People have been asking me how I recommend thinking about the threats of Ebola, ISIS, and climate change. As these threats begin to seem more immediate and personal, we tend to feel more afraid. Those of us who are used to having a good life can tend to feel ashamed that we’re afraid. This unfortunate […]
It seems like everybody is practicing mindfulness these days. Mindfulness is taking off! It’s showing up in corporate boardrooms, college classrooms, hospice care, and locker rooms. This is a wonderful development because, practiced correctly, mindfulness holds tremendous benefits for us as individuals, for our family and co-workers, and for our communities. There is some confusion, […]
