An image popped into my head during meditation today. I imagined that my “ego” or “I” was like a hook. And onto that hook were strings that connected to balloon. Each balloon, a thought. In the beginning before meditation takes hold, the balloons are plentiful and diverse. Each balloon or thought represented whatever was the … Continue reading Noticing the hook
Goal setting is an interesting challenge. Conventional advice tells us to make them explicit. To make SMART goals. Ones with specific measurable objectives and realistic timelines. But most of our goals aren’t about traveling to a new city – with clear outcomes and timelines. How do you work with a goal that says “I want … Continue reading You get there by getting there
Control the breath and you control the mind, like throwing a net over a wild parrot. Ramana Maharishi When I was new to meditation I read something that said that after a while of meditating your breath gets slow. The book emphasized the use of breath as a focus of meditation. The reasoning was that … Continue reading Is meditation just breathwork?
Our world is chaotic mess of sensations, perception, and reactions. The brain creates a model of the individual navigating this world. A model is a helpful frame by which the brain can predict what is likely to happen. This evolving model is based on previous inputs and memories. Had a terrible food poisoning experience with … Continue reading What story are you telling?
Absolute, true, and mathematical time, from its own nature, passes equably without relation to anything external. Absolute, true, and mathematical space remains similar and immovable without relation to anything external. Isaac Newton – Philosophae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), 1687 What a quaint notion. One which we says space and time exist independent … Continue reading It’s always now: What is time?
Man can do what he wants. But he can’t will what he wills. Arthur Schopenhauer Do you have any say in reading this article? Can you decide to read it till the end? Can you follow through with this intention? In general most people believe they have the ability to choose. But do we? Does … Continue reading Freewill, determinism and nonduality
This is a working FAQ on nonduality and other related concepts. Each questions links to its own page that further discusses the concept. What does nonduality mean? Nonduality simply means not-two or the one without another. That’s it. It comes from the Sanskrit word Advaita. In Sanskrit the “a” prefix signifies the opposite. Dvaita means … Continue reading What is Nonduality & other questions
There’s a pink one and a green one And a blue one and a yellow one And they’re all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds Our minds need to reconciles dissonance. So we paper over the story with a simple story. Even if there … Continue reading Paradoxes, Strange Loops, and Cognitive Dissonance
There is a story from the past that makes this point very vividly. A policeman comes across a man searching for something under a street lamp. He asks him “what are you looking for?” The man relieved to have help replies “My keys!” The policeman joins the search getting on his knees and mapping the … Continue reading What are you looking for?
Congrats! You’ve got a regular meditation practice going. Perhaps it was something that fit like a glove the first time you did it – something you knew you’d for the rest of your life. More than likely it wasn’t quite that easy. Like the other good habits in your life this too might have take a … Continue reading I’m meditating. Now what?
