A beautiful image that emerges from today's meditation: feeling ourselves breathing in unison with "all living brothers and sisters." This powerful sense of connection serves as a potent reminder that love is not just an emotion we experience with romantic partners; it's the very essence of our existence, the thread that binds us to all … Continue reading Feel yourself breathing with all living brothers and sisters.
“If you want to love, take the time to listen to your heart. In most ancient and wise cultures it is a regular practice for people to talk to their heart. There are rituals, stories, and meditative skills in every spiritual tradition that awaken the voice of the heart. To live wisely, this practice is … Continue reading Jack Kornfield Collection
Our minds are powerful tools, but sometimes they become our own worst enemy. A constant stream of thoughts, worries, and anxieties can trap us in a state of mental unrest. One of the simplest ways to practice mindfulness and calm your mind, is to connect with the physical senses of your body. Our senses, often … Continue reading Escaping the prison that is the ego.
There's a reason meditation has stood the test of time across cultures and traditions. We often hear about its benefits in reducing stress and improving focus, but there's a deeper power simmering beneath the surface, meditating regularly is “an overcoming". Think about it. Before each session, there's likely a familiar voice – the "old you" … Continue reading Every meditation is “an overcoming”.
The data is clear, when we are engaged with our hearts we are different, on both a psychological as well as a physiological level - the mind slows down and our thoughts become more rational and focused. Positive thoughts and feelings add energy to our system. An optimistic perspective, a feeling of appreciation, or a … Continue reading The data is clear, when we are engaged with our hearts we are different.
What do you create when there's nothing you need? This question serves as a powerful prompt for self-reflection. It delves into the heart of what true love is and how it transforms us from fearful beings clinging to relationships, to expansive creators brimming with the desire to give. Do you really understand what love is? … Continue reading What do you create when there is nothing that you need?
Compassion or, the importance of having compassion is a familiar melody in personal growth circles. Even so, self-compassion seems to remain an undeveloped skill. Not because we don’t try, but if our “shortcomings” were treated harshly while we grew up, then it’s likely that we struggle having acceptance for ourselves unless we’re being “perfect”. "If … Continue reading If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.
For survival, the human mind craves certainty. We strive to understand, categorize, and control. Our minds, desperately scratching through all of the noisiness in the world for a shred of certainty, is often the biggest source of our anxiety. Because life, in all its beautiful complexity, often presents us with the unsettling truth of not … Continue reading Can you tolerate the truth of not knowing?
Have you ever felt like the harder you try to "let go" of something, the more it sticks? We hear the term "letting go" regularly. We understand what is implied - not holding on to old emotions or emotional attachments - but in practice our "effort" to let go is so often not helpful as … Continue reading Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control.
Our teacher this week is Jack Kornfield who spent the years 1967 to 1972 becoming a monk in Thailand and Burma. Since 1974 he has been teaching meditation worldwide and was instrumental in introducing Buddhist mindfulness practices to the West. Standing at the start of a new week looking ahead, here are some thoughts from … Continue reading The heart is like a garden. What seeds will you plant there?
We often walk through life glancing past the faces around us. Not recognizing each individual as a complex universe unto themselves, as we autopilot our way through the world. Yet, what if we shifted our perspective? What if we saw in each person, not a stranger, but a reflection of our own inherent wholeness? This … Continue reading The universe within, leads to the universe without.
Hello Fearless Souls, every so often I get asked this question... How to let go? This is a great question, because letting go sounds a lot like ignoring... pretending it doesn't exist, or that it didn't happen. Is this what we need to do in order to let go? Pretend that it doesn’t exist? Or … Continue reading If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.
A message from today's meditation: What is coming your way this week? It’s a question that invites reflection, curiosity, and courage. Life, as unpredictable as it is, continuously presents us with moments of joy, struggle, and everything in between. While it is empowering to have a clear intention for your day or week, it’s equally … Continue reading Use whatever has come, to awaken.
Letting go... or hearing the words, "just let it go" is one of those disservices we do to ourselves and others while meaning really well. It feels like the right thing to say but we all have our own moments of struggling with our own personal example of not being able to let something go … Continue reading How the f#@k do we let go?
