I'm on my psychiatry rotation in medical school, which is mostly concerned with identifying constellations of symptoms of severe mental illness in order to make a diagnosis and prescribe medication. Additionally, here and there, we apply snippets of psychodynamic theory in order to better understand our patients. "Psychodynamic" is the term we use to describe …
Economic Growth Is Not The Solution
I'm not an economist or a business man so I might not be the ideal person to speak to this point but even an outsider can see the instability that comes with a society that builds its foundation solely upon the economy. The primary challenge that I see is that security and stability depend on …
The Reward Is Peace Of Mind
There is a perceived trade-off between taking care of oneself and taking care of others but I no longer find this true. This shift has occurred because my understanding of what it is to help others has changed. When my goals revolved around success, help ment helping others be successful, but then I realized that …
Going Right To The Source
Meditators and non-meditators all want to live happy, healthy, and productive lives. There are so many ways to make incremental improvements to our lives that we all share and understand. Healthy eating, exercise, education, family and friends each contribute to our lives in positive ways. Everyone can relate to this. But things start to get …
Yoga
Yoga is helping me see the physical impact of meditation on my body. I've always carried a tremendous amount of tension in my shoulders. When I started meditating I could basically count on some uncomfortable gross sensation in my left shoulder and arm. For about 1.5 years my arm carried these ever-changing uncomfortable sensations until as some point they stopped …
Keeping Focused on Meditation
I've had a great start to the year. My primary goal was to build up my community of support and friendship and on all accounts I've made positive steps forward. I've found some skilled and dedicated writers to share this blog which as caused the viewership to basically double. My very small group sitting (sometimes …
Nightmares
I've been curious about dreaming since I was a little kid. Where do they come from? What do they mean? Why was I in control in some and just watching in others? Why were some realistic and others complete fantasy? These questions are still a mystery to me, but I have discovered that meditation helps …
Don’t Compare Yourself To Others
This is a nice idea but unless there's a good alternative it's hard to escape the world of comparison. We are constantly compared when applying for jobs, loans, and friends. The best example for me is knowing that most Americans have more gadgets that someone from the 1980s could imagine but it's still not enough. Live …
Committing To Metta
After completing my first course I rarely practice metta. I almost always had a gross painful sensation somewhere in my body at the end of a sit, and to be honest, I was usually ready to get up when my timer went off. It took me about 6 months to really get my daily practice going …
Eating Meat
I was raised eating meat. A lot of meat. Basically, it wasn't a meal unless it had meat. When I first really committed to my daily practice, I decided to stop eating meat all together, and I held true to this for a while, but I'm back to eating meat. Technically, I'm not breaking my …
Living Vipassana 