The holidays are a wonderful time, but also a tricky time. We get together with our families that know us so well and we have a tendency to push each other's buttons unintentionally. Well, let's be honest. We do it intentionally sometimes too. We've mastered blaming everyone else for our behaviors. "If she didn't do …
Continue reading No Expectations, No Goals, And No Agendas For The Holidays
I've spent most of my life trying to figure out what I need to do to live a good life. The choice was always between this action or that action. Inaction looked like apathy so that wasn't an option. Meditation has shown me how much harm I do with my daily actions. By eating meat, I'm …
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving weekend. I'll get back to this blog next week.
Vipassana has challenged me to let go of many things. I'm currently having a lot of trouble letting go of the desire to fight, compete, and stick up for myself. I was taught that these were the things that defined me and my success. I worked hard to do the best I could because it made me …
Growth and development from meditation is slow and steady with progress usually measured in weeks rather than hours. Like many activities, practice makes perfect, but if you don't practice, you're not going to improve. A new meditator interested in Vipassana is presented with the massive challenges of completing a silent 10 day meditation course to learn the …
This is such a unique path. It's so different from anything else I've experienced in the West, and the insights are so subtle. In the beginning, this can feel like a lonely path with little support. I was the first person in my family to take a meditation course, and 2.5 years later, I'm still the …
I'm amazed by how many versions of reality exist. Each person on this planet has pieced together their life experiences into their own personal truth. The strange part is that they're all true. I can't tell someone else that their personal experiences are false and no one can tell me my personal experiences are false. So …
Vipassana is not an intellectual path, so why do I spend so much time trying to understand it? I grew up in and live in an intellectual world. Most people I know build their lives around intellectual understanding rather than faith. In order to build a new belief system, it must be acceptable to the old …
I might be discovering what this truly means for the first time. It's easy to mirror love with love, but what is the right way to face conflict? In the past I've used a modification of the fight or flight strategy. If someone was instigating conflict or bullying their way into getting something, I would …
As a barista I met some interesting people with some great one liners. I met a simple man with a simple belief. He told me, "I have more stuff then the Queen of England had 300 years ago. Why do I need more?" This statement blew me away. A second gentleman said, "Everyone is running …
Living Vipassana 