Tweet When depression is not depression but disillusionment, it still feels like depression. But in reality it is the first step toward the recognition of your inherent freedom and peace. Dis-illusionment is the beginning of waking up from illusion. It is a difficult stage with enormous promise. What is the illusion that is about to […]
Tweet An Alternative View of an Epidemic… by Ram Giri Over 120 million people suffer from serious depression worldwide. Most of them live in the richest countries in the world, where, one would think, people have less reason to be depressed. What’s going on? What the statistics don’t tell us is that many of these […]
Tweet Overcome Physical Problems through Open Attention We all know of the intimate correlation between mind, emotions and physical illness. Can resolving emotional stress help you overcome physical pain? And if so, how is it done? Jane’s hip was hurting a great deal. She had gone to the chiropractor with little results and in the […]
Tweet I’m in the prime spot for Flamenco here in Miami, in a restaurant on Calle Ocho (that’s ‘8th Street’ for you gringos), right in the heart of Little Havana. The place is bubbling with excitement. Tonight there is a performance by Miami’s First Lady of Flamenco Clarita Filgueiras, and Natalia Merino, a famous dancer […]
Tweet I am riding my bike through the Miami traffic to get some movement into these old bones, and I can’t help but notice how aggressive people are. They honk and curse at the little old lady in front of them, then pass her in a cloud of exhaust fumes to enjoy the great victory […]
Tweet There are countless levels of consciousness. No one lives on one level permanently, it shifts and moves, but more or less we have most of our experiences on a stage of awareness to which we are most habituated. Within this stage we strive to be happy and to avoid suffering. And we also strive […]
Tweet We’ve all heard of the predictions of change and we do see an enormous amount and speed of change all around us, from technical innovations to natural calamities and man-made disasters, to political revolutions, to religious fanaticism and more. The transformation predicted for our age is in full swing but what does it lead […]
Tweet I sit with a new client and every time our conversation becomes interesting she says, “I know that.” And I fall silent. Half knowledge is difficult, it provides a haven for insecurity and pride and it shuts down new possibilities. “Oh I know that!” How often this thought runs through our minds and we […]
Tweet Question: “Sometimes it is hard for me to feel my Heart. What can I do?” Ram Giri: The mind has a tendency to run after distractions. This is caused by the subtle desires of the unconscious mind. It is an addiction that keeps the mind agitated and focused outward, away from the Heart. It […]
Tweet From a Buddhist perspective, busying ourselves with worldly activities is a form of laziness, because we’re lax in self-cultivation. Our lives are so busy in modern society: Our appointment books are completely full and we’re always running here and there. We often complain there isn’t enough time for the Dharma. However, whenever we have […]
Tweet I like checking the Skills for Awakening against a variety of other wisdom traditions. What I find, time and again, is that this thoroughly contemporary approach is really the pure practical essence of what the wisdom traditions teach. It represents the practice of the liberation from suffering without all the trappings of foreign cultures […]
Tweet “As the pace of our lives continues to be accelerated by a host of forces seemingly beyond our control, more and more of us are finding ourselves drawn to engage in meditation, in this radical act of being., this radical act of love, astonishing as that may seem given the materialistic ‘can do’, speed-obsessed, […]
Tweet Three aspects of spiritual life are precious to guard and develop: devotion, enthusiasm and the focus on enlightenment. Devotion to our teacher and our highest goal is the source of all blessings. We may think that this is because when we have devotion we are good and we deserve to receive blessings, but that […]
Tweet The Israelites showed us how it’s done. 40 years in the desert with nothing but their faith to support them – my God that was no picnic! Picture them, the whole tribe walking along. Up ahead the courageous ones, the explorers, ready to conquer the scary unknown. Then the whole mass of the people, […]
