It used to be quite important to me how my day went. I'd learned that attitude is everything so if I had a bad day I thought I simply needed to change my attitude. I was learning how to ignore what was happening deep inside so I could force myself to have a good day …
Author: Ryan Shelton
While my job description is to lead the science department and teach physics at Padua Academy in Wilmington, DE, my calling is to prepare teenagers to lead their communities towards a vibrant and healthy future. This purpose has lead to the creation of Loving Lives Delaware.
Before becoming a teacher, I explored many careers and had many adventures in search of the best way to make a difference in the world. I hiked over 1700 miles, traveled to 5 continents, managed a bakery, started a meditation center, counseled troubled teens, attended Duke, UNC, and Harvard, protected forests as a wildland firefighter, volunteered thousands of hours with Americorps, rafted the Grand Canyon, and SCUBA dived on the Great Barrier Reef.
My next adventure is starting a family with my beautiful wife in our Wilmington home. I'm sure there will be many mistakes along the way, but I hope we're able to create a loving household that's a beacon of support and clarity for others in our community. Thank you for all of your support throughout our journey.
Long-Term Service
After my first course I was ecstatic by the potential Vipassana brought to my life but I didn't continue a daily practice because I was overwhelmed by the difficulty of sustaining my practice. The gap between the life I was living and the life Vipassana was teaching me to live was huge. I lacked the wisdom, …
Dhamma Muscles
There are times when I'm just not strong enough to be the person I want to be. Maybe there's a bully I want to confront or social standard I want to hold myself to and I just can't bring myself to do it. In the past when this happened I felt like a failure because …
Be Present, It Will Change
As a child, I was taught that if I wanted something to be different I needed to change it, and if I didn't do anything things would just stay the same. These lessons still seem to be true but there is a problem. I don't know what's best for me. I can identify a problem, …
A Deeper Happiness
I was a happy person before being introduced to Vipassana. I learned Vipassana at a tumultuous time in my life. From one perspective Vipassana caused me to fester in my miseries. Difficult memories and emotions would come up and I would simply be sitting with them. These difficult states would linger throughout my day and from …
From a Child’s Eye
As I reflect upon my Vipassana journey I've noticed how far I've deviated from my infant mind. While hanging out with my 15-month-old friend I'm amazed at how freely and energetically she engages unknown environments. As long as her parents are around, she feels optimistic about facing anything. I want to reconnect with this optimistic …
Love My Body
I've always pushed my body hard. I interpreted "mind over matter" to mean that I could just ignore my body when it was hurting as long as my mind was strong enough to push on. I constantly pushed my limits and was amazed when I accomplished feats like backpacking 35 miles in one day or …
Is Competition Wrong?
Competition is vital to our current social structure. Businesses compete for the best employees, schools compete for the best teachers, sports teams for the best records, grocery stores for the best produce, students for the best grades, etc. This idea of limited resources is everywhere in society which leads us to constantly be evaluating and judging people …
The Natural Law
I'm going to run you through some definitions to see if we're on the same page. Dhamma is the natural law; dhamma is not a belief. Meditation helps me learn the natural law at deeper and deeper levels over time. The insights I gain from my daily practice impact my beliefs. My beliefs are not …
The Anchor
Life is confusing with many twists and turns. We're bound to encounter great pains and difficulties and these periods of life truly test who we are. There is no greater challenge than dealing with our personal dying process and the dying process of loved ones. In these most emotionally charged and complicated periods, it's nice to know …
Living Vipassana 