There is probably nothing that challenges us more than our relationships, since every aspect, every nuance of our life involves a relationship of some sort. Every waking and sleeping moment, we are engaged in a relationship with something or someone—with our spouse, boss, children, friends; with coworkers, store clerks, strangers; with our thoughts, dreams, [...]
Acceptance Through each step of the process of finding, facing, and using a quiet corner, you will learn a great deal about yourself. The first thing you might learn is how you deal with the process. While there is some instant gratification in three-part, three-breath breathing, most of the lasting and strengthening rewards of spending [...]
The idea, or rather the reality, of an ego is paradoxical. On the one hand, it gives us a healthy supply of self-esteem, which in turn provides us with the necessary energy to face the world and its inherent storms. On the other hand, it can drive us so deep into self-consciousness that all we [...]
I was working on a blog post today about work addiction – excerpts from my book Work from the Inside Out: 7 Steps to Loving What You Do – and read this: “One of the ways we avoid looking at our life is by burying ourselves completely in our work. We live, sleep and eat [...]
Just getting through a typical day without ending up exhausted or embittered can sometimes be so daunting that when faced with some of the larger challenges of life we seem to have no energy resources left for the fight. So we let the major events take control and toss us to and fro, all the [...]
…continued from Three Bogeymen of Serenity Perhaps the most crucial impediment that we need to cast away as we progress toward the realization of our true work and enjoyment of it is our dualistic thinking. This operates everywhere and becomes especially vivid when we consider our status in the workplace. When we are young we [...]
…continued from – What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us As children, we learned to fear the mythical bogeyman. But time passes and we outgrow our childish fears. As adults, we give no thought to bogeymen, not realizing that we’ve co-opted them. Almost without our knowing it, they begin to appear in the form of [...]
One purpose of our practice is to enjoy our old age. But we can’t fool ourselves. Only sincere practice will work. Suzuki Roshi Boun's Buddhas We have been conditioned to withdraw our awareness from the unpleasant. Break that imprinting! Whatever limits the entrance of awareness limits healing. When it’s “the” pain, it has [...]
There are certain daily practices that we all engage in to maintain our physical and mental health, with eating, sleeping, and bathing being the three main ones. Whether you’re mindful of it or not, most likely you already have established habits of bathing. It is probably a daily act that takes place at about [...]
Spending/Saving Time We are a culture obsessed with time—how much we have or how little we have. We are also under the illusion that we have time to spend or save as we choose. But as the saying goes, time waits for no one. Time just is. It is there whether we are or not [...]
