[November 2023 – Dharma Center Mindfulness Tip] Is there a difference between peace and contentment? In my experience, yes, there is a profound difference. When we come to embrace the spiritual path, it is because we finally decide we have suffered enough. We want to know life beyond suffering. We…
[October 2023 – Dharma Center Mindfulness Tip] Pay attention when you embark upon new adventures, and when you are in the monotony of maintenance, pay attention. Whether you are planning and building or if things are ending and you are saying goodbye, pay attention. Pay attentionin moments of confusion and fear Pay attention in moments of…
[September 2023 – Dharma Center Mindfulness Tip] In an attempt to make sense of ourselves, the world, and our place within it, we often seek to know “why.” This retrospective analysis results in only a temporary egoic satisfaction. If we look at any situation long enough, the reasoning we came…
[August 2023 – Dharma Center Mindfulness Tip] Our society holds the promise of joy out in front of us like a carrot on a stick. We’re told we can be happy when … when we finish our degree, when we land the high paying job, when we buy the house,…
[July 2023 – Dharma Center Mindfulness Tip] A project or goal is a relationship. We always have a choice when it comes to relationships. We can love or we can hate. We can remain or we can leave. Sometimes a relationship is thrust upon us, and we fight. Other times…
[June 2023 – Dharma Center Mindfulness Tip] Every year around this time, the air currents form coastal eddies which create a thick layer of fog stretching from the coast towards the foothills. We call it May Gray and June Gloom. On most days, the inland valleys will clear by the…
[May 2023 – Dharma Center Mindfulness Tip] We always want to know what happens next. Our mind concludes that if we know what is next, we can control our life and circumstances. Or at least we can put ourselves in the right place at the right time to get what…
[April 2023 – Dharma Center Mindfulness Tip] Gratitude is wonderful medicine. One should drink it daily when happy, and have an extra dose or three when not. But please do not debase gratitude with thoughts along the lines of: “you should feel grateful because someone else has it worse.” This…
[March 2023 – Dharma Center Mindfulness Tip] Lately it’s felt like I’m grinding my gears. Not in my car; I switched to an automatic years ago. My brain was an automatic too, able to shift quickly from task to task with ease. Perhaps it’s that I have too many projects…
[February 2023 – Dharma Center Mindfulness Tip] When things don’t go the way we planned, or when we don’t get the answers we wanted, we often spin out into a variety of emotional states. We might feel anger, frustration, sorrow, despondency to name a few. If we dig into our…