Meditating / Sitting in silence, quiet and alert, observing the self without reacting brings forth many awarenesses. With continuous practice, this awareness grows, comes alive and stays alive in the undercurrents, ever-present even off-the-cushion. Which is exactly the point of daily meditation. I think it is accurate to say that at one point in time, I …
Category: Observations
Sitting Outside, Looking In
I sit on the patio chairs with a smoothie outside Nature's Fare. Across the parking lot way I see two young girls in a car. Their dad left just a moment ago to go into Nature's Fare. I sit and watch the girls. The younger one in the backseat begins to cry. Why? The heat? …
I am still a Whiner
"Oh my God, you're such a whiner!", said my girlfriend smilingly to me. I replied back with a mix of whining and knowing, "Yes, and now you see why meditation is so necessary for me!" Not that she doubted the positive effects of meditation, after all she meditates herself, but in that moment praising meditation seemed …
Keep Talking
Lately I've been more aware of when I speak, why I speak and how I speak. Communication is such a valuable tool, yet to discuss meditation and direct experience is sometimes so difficult. We essentially read left to right. When you see the saying, “I love you,” you don't know what is being loved until the word …
Life Balance
Balance is important in life. Before Vipassana, I was very unhappy with my life but did not know why. Yes, there were some things that obviously needed to be changed to shift the mood, however, they were all rooted in deeper unresolved, unaddressed, non-identified issues. A little over a year before I sat my first …
Attending What Is and What Is Attending
I recall being at the center for one of my courses and having re-occurring thoughts about a conversation or speech I would make to someone when I returned. The conversation that kept running through my mind was one that involved sexual activity with a girl that may have taken place after the course depending on …
Focusing on the Positive
Goenkaji says that craving and aversion are two sides of the same coin, as well as emotions and sensations being two sides of the same coin. My practice of choosing beyond the negative, which over time morphs into focusing on the positive, is teaching me that Positive and Negative can be looked at the same …
Choosing Beyond the Negative
A series of choices makes life. One's mindset and perspective makes life. What one focuses on makes life. This week, life has been schooling me in the power of saying, "thanks, but no thanks" to the Negative. What power it has and how its power disempowers me. I've been reading and hearing from good sources that when we get …
Conversation 2, part 3
To assist Dhamma Projects’ focus in exploring how meditators integrate their practice of Vipassana out of the centre and into the world of the householder, we would like to share a recent conversation exploring this subject in the three parts. If you missed the first part of the conversation you can find it here, and the …
Conversation 2, part 2
To assist Dhamma Projects' focus in exploring how meditators integrate their practice of Vipassana out of the centre and into the world of the householder, we would like to share a recent conversation exploring this subject in the three parts. If you missed the first part of the conversation you can find it here. Part …
Living Vipassana 