General

“Each step may seem to take forever, but no matter how uninspired you feel, continue to follow your practice schedule precisely and consistently. This is how we can use our greatest enemy, habit, against itself.” — Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, “Tortoise Steps” Consider: how mindfulness practice extends to all aspects of our life. Being mindful is being…

  “…Imagine what the world would be like if we could come to see our likes and dislikes as merely likes and dislikes, and what we take to be intrinsically true as just our personal viewpoint.”   —Pema Chodron Consider: how we can get in our way when it comes to good health. We become stuck…

  “The work of meditative thinking is a collaboration between these two natures—the seer that remembers and the seen that always forgets. As in rowing, if you pull more on one oar than the other, you go round in circles, and, as in rowing, all I can see is what I have passed as I…

“The chains of desire pull us into a life of frustration and suffering, while renunciation cuts those chains. Renunciation, though often understood to mean ‘giving up,’ is, more accurately, the willingness to experience things as they are, not as we want them to be. Here you discover true freedom, the deep, quiet joy that has…

“The peace that we’re looking for is not peace that crumbles as soon as there is difficulty or chaos. Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it’s an experience that’s expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened.”  — Pema Chödrön, Practicing Peace   Consider: How when rushed and pressed for…

“If you have embarked on this journey of self-reflection, you may be at a place that everyone, sooner or later, experiences on the spiritual path. After a while it seems like almost every moment of your life you’re there, where you realize you have a choice. You have a choice whether to open or close,…

“Breathe in such a way that you are nourished.”  — Thich Nhat Hanh, How to Eat   Consider: The act of breathing. It is so automatic that we rarely stop to consider what the breath is doing for our body. The thought that it is actually nourishing is profound. Thich Nhat Hanh goes onward with this simple quote…

“Every mindful moment in which generosity displaces greed, compassion takes the place of hatred, and insight dislodges delusion is a moment in which we are awake.”  — Andrew Olendzki, “A Tough But Not Impossible Act to Follow” Consider: What a beautiful world this would be if we would each choose to do our part replacing the negative…

If you already feel the weight of your New Year’s resolution, how about trying something a bit more sustainable? Simply consider experimenting with one new idea each month that would support your overall health and well being. Need some ideas? Here’s just a few to prompt your own creativity: Be… …kind to yourself and start…

“Even when you think you have your life all mapped out, things happen that shape your destiny in ways you might never have imagined.”  — Deepak Chopra Consider: Applying the lesson in this quote on a daily basis by acknowledging each morning that all the highly structured plans that lay before you are just that and in…

“Mindful eating can cultivate seeds of compassion and understanding that will strengthen us to do something to help hungry and lonely people to be nourished.” — Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace in Every Step Consider: That the act of eating mindfully is a simple, easy practice that we have the opportunity to engage in at least three times a…

“Just as a clay Buddha cannot go through water and a wood Buddha cannot go through fire, a goal-oriented healing practice cannot permeate deeply enough.” — Darlene Cohen, “The Practice of Non-preference” Consider: The magnitude of this message. It is a huge concept to absorb, especially when one is dealing directly with chronic pain or illness. Because…