A curse of having an over-sized human brain is that we have room for a lot of opinions. Wherever we point our attention, one of those opinions latches onto whatever we encounter. Opinions can be good, bad, or neutral. Those opinions hit us in the form of feelings. When we have a bad opinion about…
Read MoreIn days of old, before cell phones were ubiquitous, guests in hotels could schedule a telephone call to wake themselves up in the morning. A wake up call was a necessary evil, a loud ring to jar you out of dreamland and get you going on your day. It was unpleasant, but helpful, courteous in…
Read MoreA powerful bit of zen that has seeped into popular culture is Hakuin’s, Sound of One Hand. In the original koan, Hakuin, an eighteenth century Japanese zen master, challenges his students by saying, “You know the sound of two hands clapping; tell me, what is the sound of one?” A koan is a short story that…
Read MoreThere is a lot to deal with in life. Time has a way of piling up, where seconds become minutes, minutes turn into hours, and hours stack up into years. All of those moments are spaces where events occur. Those events pile up like time does. The events of our lives pile up to become…
Read MoreWhen we get a little break from the pressures of our life, we say it is like a breath of fresh air. When that happens, we may not have noticed how oppressive things had been feeling until the pressure lifts a bit and we notice that fresh air feeling. We can become so used to…
Read MoreThere is an old Maine joke where a tourist gets lost driving to a clam bake and pulls over to ask a local for directions. When the tourist tells the guy where they are headed, the local shakes his head and tells them, “You can’t get there from here!” It’s even funnier with the accent,…
Read MorePeople in the United States are starting to become aware of racism, slowly, slowly, and violently. There has been racial violence on the North American continent since the moment Europeans arrived. They came as a monoculture with guns and swords, what could you expect? As European descendants tend to write the history learned in the…
Read MoreWhen I was young and insulted, I would sing, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me! That self-protective retort was used on those unfortunate occasions where somebody’s words had actually hurt me. The rhyme is a great tool that can help children differentiate between physical and emotional harm. It’s wonderful to…
Read MoreWhen I started blogging in 2012, I was so excited by my zen practice that I wanted to let everybody know how to access a sense of inner peace. I started blogging on tumblr, which, if your not familiar with it, it is a social media platform, that lets people interact anonymously, through avatars, sharing…
Read MoreYou can learn self-confidence through positive affirmations. You can intentionally tell yourself that you are smart, wise, attractive, and anything else that contradicts habitual fears, insecurities, and negative self-opinions. Thinking good things to counteract bad thoughts is a good strategy and a part of a healthy mindfulness practice. Although effective, sending a good thought after…
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