Blog: Notes on Healing and Awakening

Blog: Lost in the Pursuit of Substitutes

Blog: Lost in the Pursuit of Substitutes

Ever since I was a teen, my drive to be productive has been a key strategy of what I often refer to as my “wanting self.” When I feel insecure, producing—whether it’s a finished...

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Blog: Freedom Finds Us When We Pause

Blog: Freedom Finds Us When We Pause

“Temporary nirvana.” This is how contemporary Thai Buddhist teacher Ajahan Buddhadasa describes the precious interludes between all our “doing;” those times when we pause, and...

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Finding Your Querencia in the Pause

Finding Your Querencia in the Pause

In bullfighting there is an interesting parallel to what I call the art of pausing, as a place of refuge and renewal. It is believed that in the midst of a fight, a bull can find...

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Blog: Radical Acceptance of Desire

Blog: Radical Acceptance of Desire

When I was first introduced to Buddhism in a high school World Studies class, I dismissed it out-of-hand. This was during the hedonistic days of the late ‘60s, and this spiritual...

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Blog: Saying Yes To Life As It Is

Blog: Saying Yes To Life As It Is

Zen teacher Ed Brown is a brilliant cook and founder of the Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, famous for its natural foods cuisine. But during Ed’s early days as a cook at the...

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Blog: Pain Is Not Wrong

Blog: Pain Is Not Wrong

Many years ago when I was pregnant with my son, I decided to have a home birth without drugs, assisted by a midwife. My hope was to be as wakeful and present as possible during...

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Inviting Mara to Tea

Inviting Mara to Tea

  This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, Some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and...

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Blog: The Sacred Pause

Blog: The Sacred Pause

In our lives we often find ourselves in situations we can’t control, circumstances in which none of our strategies work. Helpless and distraught, we frantically try to manage...

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When We Stop Running

When We Stop Running

Siddhartha, the Buddha-to-be, was the son of a wealthy king who ruled over a beautiful kingdom in the foothills of the Himalayas. At his birth, the king’s advisors predicted that...

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Running Away Deepens the Trance

Running Away Deepens the Trance

A traditional folk tale tells the story of a man who becomes so frightened by his own shadow that he tries to run away from it. He believes that if only he could leave it behind,...

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Unfolding the Wings of Acceptance

Unfolding the Wings of Acceptance

When we are caught in the trance of unworthiness, we do not clearly recognize what is happening inside us, nor do we feel kind. Our view of who we are is contorted and narrowed...

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Blog: Growing Up Unworthy

Blog: Growing Up Unworthy

In their book, Stories of the Spirit, Jack Kornfield and Christina Feldman tell this story: A family went out to a restaurant for dinner. When the waitress arrived, the parents...

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Blog: “My Religion is Kindness”

Blog: “My Religion is Kindness”

One of the wonderful teachings of the Dalai Lama, something he says quite regularly, is “My religion is kindness.” When we hear that, it resonates, because it points to something...

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Blog: “Something is Wrong with Me”

Blog: “Something is Wrong with Me”

When I was in college, I went off to the mountains for a weekend of hiking with an older, wiser friend of twenty-two. At one point, my friend described how she was learning to be...

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Reaching Across Years of Evolution

Reaching Across Years of Evolution

It’s quite interesting to me that from an evolutionary perspective, it was our vulnerability that gave rise to empathy and compassion. In order to care for our offspring, who...

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Trusting the Gold: Uncovering Your Natural Goodness

Trusting the Gold by Tara Brach

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