Meredith Arena on what it feels like to be embodied and alone. As I understand it, being alone is of great importance in Buddhism. When I sit quietly, following my breath as it travels through my body, holding myself upright and dignified in whatever way I am able on that given day, I am alone [...]
“They tell me that this is a story of courage,” writes Sarah Lipton. “For me, it is a story that has been waiting to be shared for seven years.” It’s the suddenness of the breeze that takes my breath away. Environmentally, I awaken, grasping that my dance of life is not separate from the dance [...]
Christopher Willard‘s father’s magic trick taught him his first lesson on mindful awareness and the power of concentration, giving him insight into impermanence at the age of seven. The first meditation I ever learned was a gift from my father, when I was probably about six or seven years old. We were floating on a [...]
April 26, 2013 – 10:55 am
Meditating in a storefront window on Broadway tends to make you remember why you got into this whole mindfulness thing in the first place, writes Emily Herzlin. When I decided to meditate in the display window of a home furnishings store on 18th Street and Broadway, I didn’t realize how many people lived in New [...]
April 19, 2013 – 10:21 am
Kelly Lawrence on how writing haiku has helped her appreciate the beauty of the present moment, interspersed with haiku examples. The present moment, we are often told by those in the know, is all we have. Yet it generally feels like the one thing I don’t have…I have tried to capture this elusive present in [...]
April 12, 2013 – 10:16 am
Nick Walser explains how he sees and attempts to “do” the Four Noble Truths. Some say they are to be practiced, that they beg to be investigated; some that they can’t be denied by dint of being Noble and being Truths. In any spiritual tradition the main concern is how to get with the teachings [...]
“Calling all young dharma practitioners!” writes Jessica Bizub. “The world needs our genuine, open hearts. Could we be brave and allow our practice to unfold into enlightened culture? Could I be so brave?” I have the privilege of working with high school-aged students in my volunteer life. These young people are full of optimism, kindness, [...]
Most people think of kindness as the act of being nice to others, writes Michael Felberbaum. But there’s another perspective of kindness that is so common it often goes unnoticed: a simple sense of being of the same kind. There’s a risk that you’ll read this title and automatically interpret it as: “A Case for [...]
March 22, 2013 – 11:50 am
The gift a flash of emptiness can give, writes Leslie Gossett, is an opening to the world. There are moments, more frequent these days, when I feel as if I am waking up outside of myself with an immense view of my life. I want to say that it feels like a nightmare, but it’s [...]
March 15, 2013 – 11:23 am
Samuel Gentoku McCree on the contrast between the experience of loneliness and the felt reality of interdependence. As Buddhists we are often regaled with the fact that indeed we are all one inter-being. Whether we imagine this as being different cells in the body of the dharma, or perhaps even a subtle part woven into [...]
“Monogamy seems to have become synonymous with settling,” writes Kate Menzies in this latest essay from The Under 35 Project. “And settle is such a dirty word, isn’t it?” When I met my partner, Mariah, I was already dating four people—two of them at the same time (a three-way kind of deal). It had been [...]
Maya Rook on discovering that being alone does not equate to loneliness. I am content with being alone. It hasn’t always been this way, but in this moment—as I sit in the sunlight and feel the soft click of keys beneath my fingertips—I love being alone. Right here, right now. In a society and culture [...]
February 22, 2013 – 11:51 am
Sophia Aguiñaga transforms the wear and tear of customer service work into compassion and love for both the worker and the customers being served. Thank you for calling. How many in your party? I’ll need your insurance information. Our special today is lemon cream custard. Do you have an appointment? Your photos will be ready [...]
February 15, 2013 – 8:57 am
Jennifer Horton explains how meditation helped her transform her fear of dying into the aspiration to wake up and really live. Late at night, when it’s dark and the world has gone to sleep, my mind begins to wander. Maybe it’s fatigue, maybe it’s the silence or the lack of sunlight, but at these times, [...]
February 8, 2013 – 1:28 pm
James Crews looks at the circuitous path he took — from the high desert of Oregon to Saint Louis, Missouri to Bogota, Colombia — toward understanding the work of teaching and the importance of bringing mindfulness into the classroom. I’ve worked in customer service for big-box stores, logged time in cubicles calming pissed-off customers both [...]
