meditation
Practice: Shepherding Awareness
Proposes a meditation practice focusses on bridging attention and awareness.
meditation
Practice: Mind Focus Meditation
Describes a mediation practice in which the mind is directed to the body, surroundings and interconnectedness.
habits
Some Thoughts on Habits
I have long been interested in productivity and the old Benjamin Franklin quest of finding ways to better myself. One of the more recent themes in this field is habits, which I first came across in Duhigg's bookThe Power of Habit. The basic promise here is that if
goals
Wholesome Goals for Every Day
I've discussed a number of practices that may aid in the path to enlightenment. Each of these, I believe is valuable and worthwhile to pursue; however, in their sum, they are quite an undertaking to accomplish, and it is very difficult to practice each of them daily. I,
meditation
Practice: Mental Imagery
We should never underestimate the power of our mind to direct and shape itself. We can do so through physical adjustments, such as bringing ourselves into a comfortable position or by controlling our breath. However, we can also affect our mind solely in the world of thoughts. One simple practice,
compassion
Practice: Healing Compassion
I have already written about a practice centred on the powerful emotion of compassion. However, today I came across an interesting variation of a practice on compassion (in the book Happiness by Matthieu Ricard): one that reflects our own suffering onto others, and helps us heal from our own suffering.
enlightenment
Practice: Irrelevance and Impermanence
The universe is very big. We are very small. The universe exists for an immeasurably long time. Our lives are very short. These are simple facts that we often forget. An omission which easily leads us to overestimate the importance of our life, actions and feelings in the greater context
christianity
Practice: Love
One of the most precious gift we have been given is our ability to love. Our love may encompass the big and small, our love may encompass the beautiful and ugly, our love may encompass ourselves and everything around us. Think about the many layers of your love; the romantic
equanimity
Practice: Equanimity
A key insight of Buddhist philosophy is that the highest goal to strive for should not be boundless happiness - since that is bound to disappoint - but instead a sound evenness of mind, equanimity. Equanimity requires us to overcome attachment, to brace us against the loss of even what
interbeing
Practice: Interbeing
We live in the illusion that we posses a self which is well delineated from the world around us. Whereas in fact, we are interwoven with everything around us in innumerable ways. No particle in the universe exists independently. Everything is affected by everything else. Modern science has shown the
buddhism
Practice: Gratitude
Positive psychology is a branch of psychology which focuses on what makes people happy and well. Gratitude has featured prominently in many studies in the field of positive psychology (see chapter Gratitude and the Science of Positive Psychology) since it has been shown that being grateful has many benefits for
exercise
Practice: Exercise
A healthy mind enables a healthy body, and a healthy body enables a healthy mind. Finding spiritual enlightenment and peace requires a strong and healthy mind and thus it is essential that we take good care of our body. A healthy body requires a strong and happy mind, good nutrition