Tenderness and the Awakening of Compassion
Pema Chodron writes in The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (2002,) All beings have the capacity to feel tenderness – to experience heartbreak, pain, and uncertainty. Therefore the enlightened heart of bodhichitta is available to all of us. The insight meditation teacher Jack Kornfield tells of witnessing this in […]
The 11 Best Beaches to Visit in Europe
Lori Zaino of The Points Guy lists some of Europe’s best beaches: Balos Beach in Crete, Greece Spiaggia dei Conigli in Lampedusa, Italy Playa de La Barrosa in Andalusia, Spain St. Peter’s Pool in Malta Rambergstranda Beach in Norway Praia dos Galapinhos in Portugal Plage Notre-Dame, Île de Porquerolles in France Stiniva Beach, Vis in […]
Putting the Broken Pieces Back Together
Sereno Sky writes in Lonely Traveller (2014,) Unfortunately, when you’ve fallen apart, there is no one who will be able to put the broken pieces back together but yourself. People may want to help, but in reality only you can do the dirty job of picking yourself up again, piece by piece.
A Little Bit, Done Often
Leadership coach Suzi McAlpine suggests building habits and rituals starting with one small thing, which, if done consistently and collectively, will get you closer to your vision and goal: It was the commitment to do one small thing, and to do it often, which mattered. I knew I could commit to small steps. That was […]
Understanding the ‘Self’
Stephen Batchelor writes in Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist (2010,) Gotama did for the self what Copernicus did for the earth: he put it in its rightful place, despite its continuing to appear as it did before. Gotama no more rejected the existence of the self than Copernicus rejected the existence of the earth. Instead, […]
Notions of Happiness
Thich Nhat Hanh writes in The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation (1999,) Our notions of happiness entrap us. We forget that they are just ideas. Our idea of happiness can prevent us from actually being happy. We fail to see the opportunity for joy that is right in front of […]
A Raft to Cross the River
Vietnamese-born monk and writer Thich Nhat Hanh writes in Interbeing (1987): Perhaps Buddhism is the only religion that speaks about its own teachings as a raft to cross the river and not as an absolute truth to be worshipped and safeguarded. This is the most drastic measure that Buddhism utilizes to deal with dogmatism and […]
The World is Complicated and Full of Grays
President Barack Obama in conversation with novelist Marilynne Robinson: When I think about how I understand my role as citizen, setting aside being president, and the most important set of understandings that I bring to that position of citizen, the most important stuff I’ve learned I think I’ve learned from novels. It has to do […]
Peace of Mind is Possible
American psychotherapist and Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein writes in In the Face of Fear, Buddhist Wisdom for Challenging Times (2009): Life is difficult, the Buddha taught, for everyone. Suffering he said, is the demand that experience be different from what it is. Of course we do what we can to address the pain. Sometimes illnesses […]
The Middle Way of Buddhism
Richard Holloway writes Doubts and Loves: What is Left of Christianity (2020,) The genius of Buddhism is it is a Middle Way that repudiates two extremes, the worthless life of self-indulgence and the equally worthless life of self-torture. The difference between Buddhism and Christianity is that Buddhism is essentially a practice, an arduous discipline that […]