This past weekend, I attended the International Symposium for Contemplative Studies in Boston. There were lots of luminaries in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, education, philosophy, and the humanities. Counted among these were the Dalai Llama, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Daniel Goleman, Arianna Huffington, and so many more whose are well-known to those in the field, reflecting […]
As far back as I can remember, I’ve wore rose-colored glasses. This tendency to see the best in people and life in general is not something I particularly worked at or read how-to books about. I guess you could just say it’s in my nature. It’s part of my genetic makeup. And I do believe […]
Whether your brand of faith is organized or something more organic, practicing an attitude of trust in whatever is happening in your life right now without the certainty about what it means or how it will turn out, takes a willingness to be okay with these three little words: “I don’t know.” We know that […]
There is an ancient and transformative meditation that the Buddha encouraged that elicits a gentle spirit, towards ourselves and others. It is a practice that opens the heart toward forgiveness, even towards those who we may have deemed enemies. We may have people in our life who have caused us great pain or we may […]
“You only live once? False. You live everyday. You only die once.” The first time I read this quote, I found it rather jarring. I guess it’s often the case that the truths we would rather not think about are that way. Yet often In order to wake up, it is only the words […]
What does REALLY URGENT mean? Here are some of my first responses to this question: 1. Someone in your vicinity (including you) is on fire. 2. Someone in your vicinity or related to you: is on the phone right now and has had a car accident* (the cause of which could have been […]
For some time now, my three children (20-somethings) share this little mantra with me, often accompanied by a big grin. It goes like this: “Just do you, Mom!” Whether that means wearing a funky flowered hat, leading a guided meditation on the quad of a local campus, or making friends in line at the RMV, I […]
This past summer, I attended a silent retreat for a week in Northern California. There was lots of guffawing (yes, I did say guffawing) from friends and family back East. “You are going to be silent for a whole week?” they asked incredulously. It is true (I admit it), I can be shamelessly fast talking […]
Our title today is taken from the ground breaking book, Full Catastrophe Living (1992) by premier leader in the field of mind/body training and the founder of the University of Massachusetts Stress Reduction Clinic at UMASS Medical School, Jon Kabat-Zinn. This book has long since been dog-eared and worn thin by its continual […]
Today’s post is about compassion, what it is AND what it isn’t. Linguistically, the word compassion has its roots in Latin and Old French. From the Latin compassionem, com (with), pati (to suffer), ion (state of), it means “the act of suffering together.” When we feel another’s sorrow: at a friend’s husband’s funeral, with a mother whose child is […]
