Tipping the Scales to Compassion: Becoming a Makeweight of Hope
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something good.…
Category: Teachings
Hopeful Wisdom for Difficult Times: Transforming Despair and Anxiety with Love and Courage
In this world we deal with loss and difficulty—there's climate change, continuing racism, injustice, refugees suffering around the world, and our gr…
Stand Up For Compassion
We are living in wild times. I have been shocked and concerned by the ramifications of many of our new governmental policies. In the midst of the cur…
Always Look for the Helpers: Staying Steady and Hopeful Amidst Upheaval
The children's Bodhisattva, Mr. Rogers, describes how his mother taught him to see the disasters of the world in a new way. Instead of focusing just o…
The Wisdom of Insecurity: Awakening in Every Moment
Spiritual life is not about possessing or finding security, but rather it's discovering what Alan Watts called the Wisdom of Insecurity – the capaci…
Rediscovering the Secret Beauty Within: Opening to Love, Presence, and Connection
What you most deeply long for is who you are, is coming back to your own heart, to your own beauty, your own wellbeing that you were born with, to tha…
Just Like Me – A Guided Meditation for Cultivating Compassion
When we gaze over at another in a simple way and see them with the eyes of wisdom, we’re reminded that it’s a bigger and different game than all o…
How Buddhist Monks Celebrate Christmas
One December, the Western monks at my Thai teacher Ajahn Chah's Western forest monastery decided to put up a Christmas tree. The villagers who built a…
Post-Election Decompression: Navigating Politics, Suffering, and Change with a Loving Heart Amidst It All
We are at a major time of change on this earth, what JoAnna Macy calls 'The Great Turning.' This opportunity asks if we as a species are ready to shif…
Powerful Inner Forces: Moving Past Blame and the ‘Enemy Du Jour’
The first step in working with difficult energies is to see them clearly, using the power of mindfulness, of loving awareness.
Anger and the Path of Compassion
During times of outrage, difficulty, and disappointment, how can we best transform our fires of reaction, anger, hatred, and despair?
[Video] When the Birds Were Banished from the Palace (Narrated by Jack)
I am delighted to narrate this Birdsong Project short, Erin Cahill's video for “When the Birds were Banished from the Palace” by Saoirse Stice.
