News addiction, unlike most addictions, is one that we think we should have. We think it's important that we stay on top of the news and that we stay informed on what's going on in the world. We are taught from a very early age that it's important and necessary to read the daily news or check in on what's going on in the world. Today, with 24-hour news channels…
We think we see the world as it is. But we see the world as we interpret it to be, and that interpretation is everything. If we see a picture in the newspaper, and it is a woman crying in front of a burned house, and the caption says, “Woman saved by neighbor,” and we read that and realize this is a happy moment, this isn't a tragic loss. But…
A few years ago, I was driving to Michigan to go to my best friend's wedding when I got a call a few hours out of town that there was a fire. I got a call from this fireman, and he asked if I lived in the unit where the fire was. I told him no. And he said, “Okay, good, good, good.” Then he called back and said, “I…
It must feel better to go into video games or VR or escape into any show, into anything, when your life is not in alignment with what you intended. But here’s the thing: If I don’t like my life, if I don’t like my present moment, then I need to give that moment my undivided attention. That moment that is incompatible with what I want in life, that is the…
Whenever we find ourselves going into autopilot mode, one of the things we can do to snap ourselves out of it is to bring our attention back to ourselves. Something we don’t usually do. Especially when we're doing something, we rarely notice how we’re breathing. And usually we're not breathing great. Usually, we’re holding our breath a lot, or shallow breathing, so we’re not expanding our belly. And often, we’re…
Forcing gratitude on people, especially people in pain, can be harmful. Nobody should be told to “stay positive” or “just be grateful” when they are going through trauma or real suffering. To truly help someone: We cannot deny their pain. We cannot push delusion, denial, or false hope. We must face the truth directly. Stress, fear, trauma — all of it needs to be felt, acknowledged, and understood. Ignoring it…
It’s important to understand that listing gratitudes is a symptom of a grateful mindset, not the cause of it. If our list contains things that can be taken away — money, people, achievements — then losing them feels like gratitude failed us. But real gratitude is not based on possessions. Real gratitude can be for: Life itself Breath in your body Sound Sight Warmth A moment of peace Anything that…
Children see everything as new, everything is mysterious and they're curious. Adults jump to conclusions, and we're certain, and we already know everything. So to get back to that childlike wonder, we have to focus on the cause of that, which is our comparative mindset. We compare this moment to the last. We compare this thing to the same thing we saw yesterday. But every moment is different. The light…
I think the first step on the path to enlightenment, the 10,000-step path, should be called false enlightenment. Because we have these little glimpses of awakening, and we feel like we’re enlightened, and then someone who is cruel or unkind or unthoughtful pulls us right back down to reality, makes us mad and furious. And instead of realizing we’re not so enlightened after all, we try to cut out everyone…
We were all born into a world full of people competing for their share of wealth and staking their claim. This competition for what seems like limited resources is one of the reasons we now have a mental condition in our society: a compulsive chasing of what I call peak experiences. We see this with billionaires and multimillionaires wanting to go to space for ten minutes. We see it in…
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