When life gets too busy, Kathleen Dean Moore remembers the childhood joy of nature. For many years, my life has been impossibly over-scheduled. I finally resorted to computerized, categorized, color-coded to-do lists. I so single-mindedly finished and deleted tasks from the list that the consonants wore off the delete key on my laptop, leaving only e e e, and then the [...]
Booooring…
Like, say, staring into space. Or counting your breaths. Or living life just as it is. Karen Maezen Miller on the virtues of boredom. The message comes with good intentions, as do most things designed to inspire, so I click on the link in my email and watch the short video. First I see a sleeping newborn swaddled in a blanket, followed by a silken black butterfly perched on [...]
Mind Waves
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind is the seminal work by San Francisco Zen Center founder Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. In this chapter alone he explains: how to practice zazen, the difference between small and big mind, and the true nature of thoughts. When you are practicing Zazen, do not try to stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. If something comes into your mind, let it come in, [...]
Playing With Buddha
“The Buddha is with you,” his mother used to say. “Believe in him.” At age seven, Ira Sukrungruang believed that the Buddha was more than a bronze statue. The Buddha was his best friend. I used to stare at the meditating Buddha in our living room: his straightbacked posture, his wide shoulders and narrow waist, his elegant hands resting humbly in his lap. This statue sat [...]
The Middle Way of Stress
Should stress always be avoided? Can it be productive? What are its symptoms and what is its cure? Buddhist teacher Judy Lief on what stress really is, and what the Buddhist teachings have to say about it. Life is stressful. Although some people claim that contemporary life is especially stressful, I am skeptical whether that is so. Living beings have always had to struggle [...]
“Mars” series author Kim Stanley Robinson on bringing science, Buddhism together
“Literature is my religion,” says Kim Stanley Robinson. “The novel is my way of making sense of things.” He doesn’t meditate, nor does he call himself a Buddhist. Nonetheless, he’s quick to acknowledge that Buddhism has had a profound impact on him and his writing. Zen philosophy, in particular, has taught him to stay in the moment, to pay attention to the natural world, and to [...]
3 Tips for Surviving a Toxic Workplace
Photo by Martin Howard. There's a difference between a stressful work environment and a toxic one, says Fearless at Work author Michael Carroll. Here's his step-by-step guide to transforming a toxic workplace. One thing you can count on about work is that it’s stressful. Tight deadlines, limited resources, diverse personalities, and complex problems naturally add up to a [...]
For Cary Groner, writing is like a waking dream
Cary Groner discovered Buddhism in high school and it immediately resonated with him. But his mother thought meditation was peculiar and forbade him to do it. “I’d get caught meditating the way that other kids get caught smoking dope or shoplifting,” says Groner, the author of Exiles. “Fortunately, meditation is something you can do without making any noise or attracting any [...]
Let It Slide
© Saschad, Dreamstime.com Tens of times a day, Diana Winston's two-year-old daughter helps her practice letting go. At the park, my daughter is climbing the ladder to the top of the slide. I think this is a great idea. I love slides; I’ve always loved slides. But my two year old isn’t really a slider. She’s more of a hanger. She loves to swing from monkey bars, which [...]
September’s Sipress
From our September 2012 magazine. See David Sipress’s next cartoon for Lion's Roar when the November 2012 issue hits newsstands in the first week of October. [...]
