I've been told a million times to live in the present moment, but I just discovered a new piece of this idea. To live in the present moment, I need to accept the present moment. If I don't accept things the way they are, that means that my mind wants something different than what is …
Overflowing my Cup
Last time, I wrote about my resistance towards using thoughts or past memories to arouse Metta. I've since spoken with a senior A.T. about this matter and he agreed that yes using the imagination is a “fake it till you make it” approach to Metta. He also reminded me that “making it” means over flowing …
Serving on a ten day course
I was able to arrive a day and half before the course began to help set up. I prefer landing in the almost ghost town like feel between courses, rather than the hustle and bustle of everyone arriving and settling in. When asked by the management to go into household my ego reacted. I had …
Are We a Community?
One reason I started this blog was that I felt alone. I had experienced the profound potential of Vipassana, but I was having all of these experiences in my own little bubble. I didn't want anyone else to feel this way so I decided to share my story. Of course, no one's story is exactly …
Bringin’ Space to the Workplace
The first time I saw a genuinely tragic car accident was on the way back from my grandmother's funeral last week. I was riding with my older sister and four year old nephew. An old Chevy pickup careened down the turning lane, moving at least 80 mph, and a trail of police cars followed close …
One Year of Blogging
We made it! This blog, which started one year ago as a personal journal to help me process through the many changes Vipassana has brought to my life, has become supportive community of meditators around the world. We've had over 16,000 hits averaging over 44 hits per day. That's hard to believe! What's even more …
A Pure Mind is a Loving Mind
This statement is a fact I've learned through my meditation practice. If this fact was universally understood, the way the world functions would change. The movies in our society support the idea that there is good and evil everywhere. The good guys my face the bad guys, and the fate of the world hangs in …
Initial findings from Vipassana meditation related survey
As I mentioned in some of earlier posts, I am conducting a research to understand the role of Vipassana meditation in enhancing the emotional intelligence. In this post, I would like to share some preliminary findings from survey and personal interviews with Vipassana practitioners. The survey to test of some of the hypothesis has been …
Continue reading Initial findings from Vipassana meditation related survey
The Path Is Changing
The world gives me a problem, and I need to find a solution. That's the mindset I've used for a long time. When it came to people involved in a problem, I needed to find the right words or listen in the right way to help us agree on the same solution. But this paradigm requires the …
Metta as Method Acting, or Metta when I’m in the Mood?
I find it quite natural to practice Metta at times, but very difficult to make it a regular practice; though, maybe that’s exactly what I need? It seems with S. N. Goenka’s instruction, how to cultivate Metta vibrations is really up to me... One technique, to use thoughts or memories to trigger the Metta vibration, …
Continue reading Metta as Method Acting, or Metta when I’m in the Mood?
Living Vipassana 