Freedom Amid Challenging Times

Steady the Mind

  Who is your enemy? Mind is your enemy. No one can harm you more than a mind untrained. Who is your friend? Mind is...

Fear of Freedom

People often prefer a very limited, punishing regime—rather than face the anxiety of freedom. — Jean-Paul Sartre Along with the joy of freedom is a...

Lead with the Heart

  The mind creates the abyss, and the heart crosses it.—Sri Nisargadatta When we carefully observe our thoughts, we discover that they are not in...

Stop the War Within

  We human beings are constantly in combat, at war to escape the fact of being so limited, limited by so many circumstances we cannot...

Fear and Anger

Aversion, anger, and hatred are states of mind that strike against experience, pushing it away, rejecting what is presented in the moment. They do not...

The Practice of Forgiveness

Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone is healed. This is the ancient and eternal law. —Buddha Without forgiveness we are chained to...

Learning from Doubt

When we learn about doubt in meditation, we can then learn to face doubt wisely in our life. Here’s how to start: begin by looking...

Vulnerability and the Tender Heart

“Ultimately it is on our vulnerability that we depend.”—Rilke As children, many of us were taught courage in the form of the warrior or the...

The Colorings of Consciousness

Consciousness is colored by the states that visit it.—Buddha “Eh,” my teacher Ajahn Chah would peer at me when I was having a hard time,...

Love: The Gateway to Freedom

  No matter where we are, we can see the world through the eyes of love. Without love, everything is constrained, if not false. With...

Freedom from Suffering

“In a world of tension and breakdown it is necessary for there to be those who seek to integrate their inner lives not by avoiding...