Unlike many of the faiths I'd come across as a religion reporter, the Buddha wasn't promising salvation in the form of some death-defying dogma, but rather through the embrace of the very stuff that w...
We now know that happiness, resilience, and compassion are skills, susceptible to training. You don't have to resign yourself to your current level of well-being, or wait for your life circumstances t...
What mindfulness does is create some space in your head so you can, as the Buddhists say, respond rather than simply react. In
What’s with you and the whole meditation thing? Trying to avoid another long, unsuccessful answer, I blurted out, I do it because it makes me 10% happier. The look on her face instantly changed. What...
With uncontrived sincerity he said, I want to know you. That was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to me.
You can do your best and then, if things don't go your way, still become unconstructively upset, in a way that hinders your ability to bounce back. Dropping the attachment is the real trick.
Acknowledged that the Jewish penchant for anxiety probably played a role in their collective attraction to Buddhism. Over the ensuing decades, the Jew-Bus had been a major force in figuring out how to...
Brain is a pleasure-seeking machine.
Including salutary effects on the following: • major depression • drug addiction • binge eating • smoking cessation • stress among cancer patients • loneliness among senior citizens • ADHD • asthma • ...
Just radiated curiosity and enthusiasm. Toward the end of our interview, he said, The most important thing to me is probably, like, being kind and also trying to do something awesome.
All I had to do was tell myself: if it doesn’t work, I only need the grit to start again—just like when my mind wandered in meditation.
Focusing on the breath as a way to temporarily stop the thinking was like using a broom to sweep a floor crawling with cockroaches. You could clear the space briefly, but then the bugs came marauding...
I’d always assumed that the voice in my head was me: my ghostly internal anchorman, hosting the coverage of my life, engaged in an unsolicited stream of insensitive questions and obnoxious color comme...
I’m thinking: Yes, right—there is a point to sitting around all day with your eyes closed: to gain some control over the mind, to see through the forces that drive us—and drive us nuts.
Mark also pointed out that mindfulness was a skill—one that would improve as I got more meditation hours under my belt. In that spirit, he said I should consider going on a retreat.
May you be happy. May you be safe and protected from harm. May you be healthy and strong. May you live with ease.
Mindfulness provides space between impulse and action, so you're not a slave to whatever neurotic obsession pops into your head.
Much of our inner dialogue is this constant reaction to experience by a selfish, childish protagonist.
On meditation Real Happiness, Sharon Salzberg Insight Meditation, Joseph Goldstein On Buddhism and mindfulness in general Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart, Dr. Mark Epstein Buddhism Without Belie...
One of the most interesting discoveries of this whole journey was that I didn’t need my demons to fuel my drive—and that taming them was a more satisfying exercise than indulging them.
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