There is a lovely Zen Buddhist story about a farmer’s response to the ups and downs of life. The story starts with the farmer benefiting from good weather which led to good crops. His friends pat him on the back and say, “what luck” and “how wonderful.” His response is simply, “we’ll see.” The […]
We talk a lot about the importance of self-care. Chances are you can list many of the components of self-care – adequate sleep, a healthy diet, a healthy balance of work and play and so forth. The components become a mindless mantra on what we know we should do, but yet never get done. Life […]
How often do you say “hello” or “good morning” out of habit? Or, how often does someone say “hello” to you as they are walking by and looking at their cell phone? A lot of us get caught up in the movement of the day and find ourselves repeating “hello” or “good morning” without much […]
In our busy lives is so easy to get caught up in our own worlds. We get consumed with our daily tasks, our families, our jobs and so forth. In this process we fail to see the world outside of us. In addition, when we become stressed or overwhelmed, it’s as if life contracts. We […]
In her book Rising Strong, author and researcher Brené Brown defines generosity as the ability to “extend the most generous interpretation possible to the intentions, words, and actions of others.” While this sounds simple, it is one of the most challenging tasks of being in relationship with people – friends, family, co-workers and even strangers. […]
We live in a fast-paced world with unrealistic expectations. We expect to get things done faster and better than is actually possible. How many times do you set unrealistic goals for the day or the week; failing to consider what is humanly possible to accomplish in a 24-hour period of time. There are lots of […]
Walking meditation is a beautiful practice and sometimes easier than sitting meditation or trying to be still. Normally we walk to get from point A to point B; there is a purpose, a destination. Throughout our day we may even be walking towards something way off in the future. This takes our mind to the future. […]
It used to be that when we asked someone “how are you?” the typical response was “fine.” Now, the typical response is “busy,” accompanied by a slightly crazed look which could be either anxiety or excitement. It’s often hard to tell. Either way, the crazed look and feeling is coming from stress hormones that accompany […]
We live in a culture obsessed with time. We’re either trying to make time go by faster by distracting ourselves or slow it down by trying to cram too much into every second of the day. How often do you find yourself either wishing for more time – “if only I had an extra hour […]
We usually think of mindfulness as a how-to practice to get us to success. Mindfulness supports making positive changes like dieting or quitting smoking. A mindfulness practice can help reduce stress, anxiety and depression and improve creativity, concentration and memory. But, what about when we reach that moment of feeling successful? Why would mindfulness be a good practice once the hard […]
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