Just being alive is enough to fill our gratitude cups for many lifetimes. And if we are suffering in sorrow and grief and despair, we are really doing a disservice to ourselves and these incredible, brief lives we have. I used to think that miracles didn’t even exist. I thought that everything was scientific and logical, and it’s just what we can see and touch—that’s all that we can experience…
How to Be One With the Universe: Seeing Beyond the Individual Self When we say that humans are social creatures, it doesn’t just mean that we like to gather and communicate. It means that through the many selves, a society emerges. Without society, we would have no language, and thus no thoughts. So while there is a great deal we can learn about ourselves when we close our eyes and…
What is the purpose and meaning of life? If it were just to survive, consume and expend energy, then we wouldn’t have the ability to even ask these questions. We would just be food-finding, mindless robots. So there is something much deeper to our lives than survival.If it were to be comfortable and safe, we’d be lazy and weak. If it were to be happy all the time, then we’d…
A lot of people think that accepting things as they are means we don’t need to take any action, we don’t need to improve anything, and that “letting go” means giving up. I was even asked once, “Doesn’t being happy mean that we would not care about anything and we would never try to develop ourselves spiritually, financially or personally?”I understand where these questions are coming from. From a nonspiritual…
Isn’t it funny how much we crave acceptance from people who are not gracious enough to give it to us and who have already shown us they are incapable of doing so? We all want a spotless, stellar reputation. We want only good words to be spoken about us, whether we are present or not. And any blemish, any tarnishing of that reputation, even being misunderstood or having someone assume…
Early in my time in India, one of the first gurus I met asked me why I wanted to become enlightened. I said, “Because it’s probably like being on an acid trip all the time.” He laughed and said, “Then you won’t become enlightened.” What I realized later was that he was pointing out the selfishness of that motivation. Enlightenment cannot be pursued for personal pleasure. That moment shifted my…
Reader Question "Dear Todd, if we have family, friends, and relationships can we also reach Enlightenment/Self-Realization? Can we have both?" There is no doubt that it is easier to meditate all day when we live in a monastery. But, while meditation is essential for understanding the mind and the nature of consciousness, that’s not all there is to reaching our ultimate potential.We humans forget that we are spiritual beings, but…
How Can You Not Be Attached to Family and Loved Ones?I know it seems strange at first, but the more we examine it, the more we will find that love without possessiveness or clinginess is a far greater and more powerful love. This is what true unconditional love looks like.When we love with attachment, we love with stress and anxiety too, constantly worrying, even if it’s imperceptible. This subconscious stress…
Even though, in the short term, telling someone off or badmouthing them may feel good, in the long run, it leads to nothing but misery. Blaming our problems on other people may feel satisfying for a moment, but it does not fix the problem. It does not lead to a solution. It does not help us in the long term. There will always be dirtbags, jerks, and cruel people in…
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…
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