At the heart of every conflict is at least one or two outsized egos. These egos tear families apart, break up lovers, ruin friendships, and turn strangers into enemies. So how did we get here? Why do we have these egos? Are our egos protecting us or hurting ourselves and our relationships? Understanding the Link Between Ego and Forgiveness To feel negativity towards someone else is no different from feeling…
It’s not hard to see parallels between meditating and playing video games. Both activities force participants to step out of their head, to temporarily forget their mind-made illusory self, and to become free from thoughts and worries.But there are also some key differences between meditation and video games, which I will get into in this article.Do Video Games Count as Meditation?Gaming, swimming, running, rock climbing, making art, dancing and watching…
I understand how hard it can be when people don't treat us the way we would treat others. It is disappointing, disheartening, and discouraging. People are messy and relationships can be very complicated, but we enter into them because of the immense meaning and purpose they bring.To hold onto anger and resentment is to give up on people everywhere. It's a battlefield out there, but we only have 3 options.1)…
This article was originally part of the Meditation for All challenge series. The complete 10-week system has since been compiled into a standalone book: The 10-Week Meditation Transformation. Unlocking the True Benefits of Daily Meditation Have you ever noticed how after significant moments in your life, you have almost no memory of them? Like how you can give a big speech and it feels like you missed the whole thing.…
Do You Know Yourself? All loving relationships start with knowing. All problems stem from a lack of understanding. If we are to love ourselves, love others as ourselves, and eliminate internal and external conflict, we must know ourselves. The wisdom that arises from understanding who we truly are cannot be told to us. Just as we cannot develop a good relationship with another person by simply reading about relationships, we…
Meditation doesn’t replace sleep, but it enhances it. It improves focus, increases attention, and most importantly, improves the quality of your sleep. One of the biggest causes of poor sleep today is a restless, racing mind. While things like caffeine, screen exposure, and artificial light disrupt sleep by affecting melatonin production, the deeper issue is mental overstimulation. Nothing calms that restless mind like meditation. Sleep aids, alcohol, and other substances…
Does Everyone Deserve Happiness? Realizing You Are Worthy Right Now If you are breathing, you deserve happiness. Now, I don’t mean this as some political human right or some new-agey “soul” right. I also don’t mean that we deserve to always be laughing like fools. I don’t even mean that we deserve a perfect world or a world free from suffering, because that would not actually make us happy. If…
Understanding Affection Deprivation and the Drive for TouchWe all need human touch and affection. It is as innate a drive as hunger and thirst. We love love, and so we seek it out, we crave it, and it is this force that has helped us work together to survive and thrive on this planet.Modern Technology: Isolation vs. Real ConnectionIt is true that in our modern society, it’s become easier to…
If the unexamined life is not worth living, the unexamined mind is not worth having. Who are we? At the deepest sense of ourselves? What is this consciousness peering out at the world? And is it possible to turn our awareness back on itself? If we fail to look at ourselves, to understand who we truly are, to understand our unconscious thought patterns and habits, we are doomed to repeat…
There’s no aging. There’s just this moment. There’s no future. There’s no past. There’s no “I was young, and now I’m old.” This is all comparison. This is all an illusion. This is all the symptom of a mind that can’t focus on reality and is always comparing this to the past, my life to someone else’s who’s better. Be grateful for this moment as it is. Don’t worry about…
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