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Morning Intention: Dropping Thoughts “Mid-Sentence”

“When sitting in meditation, say ‘That’s not my business!” with every thought that comes by.” (Ajaan Chah) **Morning Intention: To notice when I am caught in a painful pattern of thought and to drop it “mid-sentence”. One of our greatest delusions is that the stories we tell ourselves have beginnings and ends. We know on […]

Scars Are A Testament To Life

Scars are a testament to life. So much of what passes for healing in our culture is just “scar removal”: cosmetic rituals meant to reassure us that we can “release” this or “transform” that so we don’t need to look at it anymore. That’s just killing life, as they say in Zen, for any action […]

Morning Intention: The Mind Is A Tool

** Morning Intention: To see the mind as a tool and to use it as such The mind is like a knife. You have to keep it sharp, but you can’t use just any surface for a whet-stone. If you let the mind make contact with every random distraction that comes along, it will wear […]

Morning Intention: A Better Relationship With Pain

** Morning Intention: To see pain as something I have a relationship with So much advice these days seems to be about telling people to cut things out. Cut toxic people out. Cut toxic food out. Be deliberate in creating the life you want. It’s good to see people living for themselves in ways previous […]

Morning Intention: Pain And Awareness

** Morning Intention: To work with physical pain by moving my awareness before I move my body We live in a highly anesthetic culture. Some scientists are starting to suspect that our over-reliance on everything from aspirin to opioids is starting to erode our capacity for empathy. Whether they ever can prove that on a […]

Morning Intention: Compassion As “Staying-With”

** Morning Intention: To see compassion as “staying with” whatever I am doing We have a hard time seeing things through to the end. It’s not just the projects and relationships we abandon as soon as they get difficult. It’s also life itself, which we tend not to be present for, though it is so […]