Category: Mindfulness
Are you trying to “settle the score”? Try “choosing peace” instead
There is a key moment, says Pema Chödrön, when we make the choice between peace and conflict. In this teaching from her program Practicing Peace, she describes the practice we can do at that very moment to bring peace for ourselves, for others, and for the world. If we want to make peace, with ourselves and with…
Journeys: Putting on My Oxygen Mask
When faced with caring for her aging mother, Ann Potter struggles to practice both compassion for others and compassion for herself.
Extreme Detox: How Buddhist monks led me to humility and freedom from alcohol addiction
Author Paul Garrigan tells how Buddhist monks in a Thai temple helped him to drop his drinking, and even the very idea that he was an addict.
Buddhist Psychotherapist and “RAIN” Champion Tara Brach
Western psychology and Buddhism—together they offer us a complete diagnosis of the human condition. Andrea Miller talks to psychotherapist Tara Brach, who works to combine these two disciplines into a powerful path to love and fulfillment.
RAIN Cools the Flames of Anger
Emily Horn teaches us how to recognize, accept, investigate, and not identify with our anger.
A Punk Looks at Fifty
I recently turned 50. Happy birthday to me! It’s an annoying age: you’re not old enough to be considered wise but you are old enough to be considered old.
Is Western Psychology Redefining Buddhism?
Jack Kornfield, Judy Lief, and Bodhin Kjolhede examine the influence of Western psychology on Buddhism. Introduction by Ajahn Amaro.
Off the Bridge and Onto the Cushion
Brandon Dean Lamson recalls how he turned away from his decision to commit suicide, and went to go sit zazen instead.
I Did Not Lose My Mind
It took an illness of the brain for Meg Hutchinson to discover the inherent sanity of her own mind. Her breakdown was actually a breakthrough.
It’s for You
Sometimes after a phone call, nothing is ever the same. But if you let it, says Douglas Penick, the bad news can come to feel a little like falling in love.
George Saunders on Kindness
The famed writer talks abou a failure of kindness and a convocation speech that went viral.
Pema Chödrön on 4 Keys to Waking Up
As Ani Pema Chödrön sees it, walking the walk is about being genuine; that is, not being a fake spiritual person.
Empty Graves & Empty Boats
At her grandfather’s grave, Rachel Neumann’s anger erupted, but who was there to yell at in those long-buried remains?
What’s Your Retreat Password?
Disentangling from the modern world to go on a meditation retreat, says author Anne Cushman, can be a little complicated.
Let’s Be Honest
Pema Chödrön and Dzigar Kongtrül—a student and her teacher—talk straight about honesty, self-deception, and why the difference is the key to the dharma.
We Naturally Know What to Give — Jan Chozen Bays on Joyful Giving
Jan Chozen Bays's contribution to the “Joyful Giving” feature, looking at why generosity is the starting place of all the virtues.
Father of Sandy Hook shooting victim asks Thich Nhat Hanh how to prevent such tragedies in the future
Father of Sandy Hook shooting victim asks Thich Nhat Hanh how to prevent such tragedies in the future.
Breaking Good: Ricky Gervais’ warm-hearted new show “Derek” declares “kindness is magic”
Amid the current onslaught of antiheroes, vulgarity, ultraviolence, and exploitation on TV emerges a comedy based on an unlikely theme: kindness.
Josh Korda on “The Glorification of Busyness”
One of the most radical, countercultural things we can do is actually just sit there and relax without feeling we're missing out.
Why Is America So Angry?
When the guy driving the late-model Volvo with a “War Is Not the Answer” bumper sticker gave me the finger, I knew America had taken a wrong turn.