A reader, Trygve, mentioned that by visualizing myself on my death-bed reflecting on my life I was actually two steps removed from being present. Meditation teaches us to be present with every moment. While I've always found this visualization exercise to be helpful in evaluating how I allocate my time, he makes a very good point. It …
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.
Detached Unconditional Love
The idea of detached unconditional love seemed like an oxymoron to me for most of my life but I'm starting to realize that it's the only type of pure love. Love for me used to be characterized by always being there for someone. Being present, and maybe even attached. I would ride each emotional wave …
Community Living
If I want to work less so I have more time to meditate and connect with loved ones, I'm going to have much less money. Can I make this work to my advantage? The biggest expense we all have is housing. In August I moved into my own place for the first time ever and it's expensive. I could live for …
Time
Time is our most valuable asset because it's the only thing you can't get back. I don't think I would get much disagreement with that statement. Opinions start flying when people discuss how to utilize this time. The primary point I want to discuss in this post is the contrast between understanding what we're doing with …
Giving Without Losing A Part Of Myself
Trying to help people can be very complicated. The goal is usually to support and encourage someone to live a "better" life but this is more difficult than it first appears. I see two major obstacles. First, I see a lot of people who don't want help or don't want to change. Instead of taking advantage …
Valuing People Over Everything Else
Thinking about my death is a useful tool when evaluating my live. There are many timelines to evaluate my goals and each timeline prioritize something different. On a daily or weekly basis it's easy to focus on our immediate goals: take care of all of my chores, get an A on that math test, go …
Accepting Vs. Confronting
We all face difficult challenges in our lives. The bigger the challenge is, the more our choices and actions seem to define us. I've worked hard in my life to learn how to run into challenges instead of running away. I'm defined my willingness to step into chaos without a plan and to be there for …
Self-confidence
Self-confidence is a complicated concept. Dictionary.com has two definitions: 1) realistic confidence in one's one judgment, ability, power, etc. 2) excessive or inflated confidence in one's own judgement, ability, power, etc. Self-confidence simultaneously defines a "realistic" and an "excessive or inflate" confidence. There is such a fine line between confidence and arrogance and ego. It feels …
The Search That Vipassana Ended
I've written a lot about questions I still have, but I want to write some about the answers Vipassana has brought to my life. First, Vipassana is a tool to help me discover truth. Like many people, I felt that both organized religions and science were only able to provide part of the truth about life on …
Navigating My Community Role
The most confusing and potentially useful aspect of integrating Vipassana into my daily life is learning how to interact with the individuals and communities in my life. Before Vipassana I learned that being extraverted and personable were important skill when trying to accomplish a goal. Communication channels need to be open in any calibration and if …
Living Vipassana 