Meditation: Nourishing Happiness with RAIN (15:17 min)
While RAIN is regularly used for untangling suffering, it is also a powerful tool for deepening our access to positive states like happiness, gratitude, wonder and love. This meditation guides us in nourishing the goodness that is an intrinsic part of living and...
Part 2: Rewiring for Happiness and Freedom
The Buddha said, “I would not be teaching this (a path of awakening) if genuine happiness and freedom were not possible.” While this is our potential, we each have deep conditioning to get stuck in feelings of fear, deficiency and separation from others. These talks...
Part 1: Rewiring for Happiness and Freedom
The Buddha said, “I would not be teaching this (a path of awakening) if genuine happiness and freedom were not possible.” While this is our potential, we each have deep conditioning to get stuck in feelings of fear, deficiency and separation from others. These talks...
Blog: What You Practice Grows Stronger: Choosing Joy to De-Condition Our Negativity Bias
What You Practice Grows Stronger:Choosing Joy to De-Condition Our Negativity Bias Some years back, I was talking with a woman in our community. She was a breast cancer survivor and she told me about a conversation that she had with a friend who also was a survivor....
Tara Talks: Shining a Light on the Habits That Block Joy (3:06 min.)
If we’re in the trance of unworthiness, we can’t embrace each other and our world in an open-hearted way. In this short video, I share a story (a personal favorite!) of what’s possible when we shine a light on the habits of self-aversion that block our...
Tara Talks – Guided Reflection: From “If Only” Trance to Open-Hearted Presence (7:47 min.)
When we notice that we’re in the trance of “if-only” mind, we can choose to re-open and surrender to what is right here. When we make that U-Turn and stay with our experience with kindness, we find a sense of goodness in that presence. This is the beginning of joy....
Tara Talks – Reflection: The Practice of Savoring As a Gateway to Happiness (5:53 min.)
It is radical and transformative to pause and sense the goodness that is right here in this moment. When we experience gladness for simple things, we know we really can be happy for no reason. I hope you enjoy this short reflection on how savoring our moments can help...
Meditation: Relax into Happiness (19:19 min.)
Meditation: Relax Into Happiness ~ Lama Gendun Rinpoche writes, “Happiness cannot be found through great effort and willpower, but it is already there, in relaxation and letting go.” This meditation turns us toward this naturally arising happiness by awakening...
Tara Talks – Reflection: The Practice of Serving as a Gateway to Happiness
Taste what it’s like, in the body and in the heart, to feel a sense of your own being when you’re helping. “Every time I take a step in the direction of generosity, I know that I am moving from fear to love.” – Henri Nouwen. Listen to the full talk: Happiness Is...
Happiness Is Possible: De-conditioning the Negativity Bias – Part 2
There is an inner freedom that expresses as happiness and peace, and it is accessible when we arrive in openhearted presence. As the Buddha said, “If it were not possible to find liberation, I would not teach about it.” In this two part talk, we will look at the...
Happiness is Possible: De-conditioning the Negativity Bias – Part 1
There is an inner freedom that expresses as happiness and peace, and it is accessible when we arrive in openhearted presence. As the Buddha said, “If it were not possible to find liberation, I would not teach about it.” In this two part talk, we will look at the...
Happy for No Reason – Part 2: Opening to Happiness
These two talks explore the two different kinds of happiness, the blocks to happiness, and the ways that mindful presence and intentional gladdening the heart (positive neuroplasticity) can open us to our full potential for true happiness. photo: Jonathan Foust ~...
Happy for No Reason – Part 1 : Opening to Happiness
These two talks explore the two different kinds of happiness, the blocks to happiness, and the ways that mindful presence and intentional gladdening the heart (positive neuroplasticity) can open us to our full potential for true happiness.
True Happiness: Realizing Well-Being
Well being is the deep contentment that arises from a relaxed, wakeful presence. This talk explores the beliefs and habits that contract us away form presence, and several key ways we can nourish our natural capacity for happiness.