Category: expectation & goals
the simplicity of mindfulness
One clear thread weaves through our practice: the simplicity of mindfulness. We are acquainted with complication. We know the feeling of being tangled, knee-deep in old resentments or lost in anxiety, listening to the compelling arguments…
Written by
where the quiet joy lives
It’s in the naked ordinariness of our life where the quiet joy lives. Life for me right now is good. I returned from two months of intensive practice in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. My health is…
Written by
it’s now or never
Mindfulness loosens the “interminable chain of longing” as Robert Frost puts it, so I have half a chance of living this moment now. One of my first meditation teachers, Sharon Salzberg, often talks about her early…
Written by
don’t let the mind become a lonely hunter
You have all you need. The bounty is already laid out at your doorstep. The title here steals from Carson McCuller’s remarkable debut novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, published in 1940 when she was…
Written by
a contemplative life
What makes the difference in the contemplative life are the qualities of heart we bring to our everyday experiences. When asked the value of contemplative life, the 13th century Japanese monk Dogen said it allowed him…
Written by
on having no goals
As you set out on your meditation journey- avoid aggressive self-improvement. There isn’t anything to improve; the present moment is just fine as it is. One of the trickiest aspects of mindfulness meditation is the whole…
Written by
let go of expectations
As we let go of expectations in our mindfulness practice, it generalizes in our life-we are more present and responsive, and less reactive. Buddhist practice is not so much about answering the so-called big questions of…
Written by
everyday mysticism
There is a way to live your ordinary life in pristine peace and joy just as it is right now. This is the way of everyday mysticism, yet it’s not about any “ism” at all. This…
Written by
expectation
Just what sorts of insights do you get from meditation? Mindfulness meditation also goes by the moniker Vipassana, or insight meditation. When I mentioned this in our weekly classes some years ago, someone asked me well,…
Written by
