Usually what happens when we have those unwanted, intrusive, misery-inducing thoughts, is that we are trying to suppress something that is clearly there and trying to express itself. Suppression and repression only feed negative thoughts more energy.Distraction and escape just keep them bubbling under the surface. Engaging with those thoughts feeds them too. So what the heck are we supposed to do?!The key to freeing ourselves from a dark past…
As Eckhart Tolle shared in The Power of Now, he tells the story of two monks walking through a forest. They come upon a river and see a woman struggling to cross. Even though it's against their rules and customs to touch a woman, one of the monks goes over, lifts the woman, and helps her across the river.He sets her down, makes sure she’s okay, and then the two…
I have a viewpoint and an attitude of loving this moment and wanting for nothing else. Because I noticed a while ago that when you want something that is not happening right now, you suffer. And I didn’t want to suffer, so I cultivated this mindset of making whatever happens in my life, in this moment, exactly what I want.I used to want to be the richest guy in the…
The past does not exist.Its scars may still exist, but scars cannot control us.In this moment, we always have a choice. We can choose to let the past control us, or we can choose to stay present.Here are two things we can do:1. Recognize It's a ChoiceFirst, we have to recognize that our belief that the past controls us is actually a choice. When something bad happens to us, we…
Does anyone here have a crystal ball that sees into the future? Do you have a genie’s lamp with unlimited wishes? And most importantly, do you think having those things would make you happier? Perhaps you’ve seen the Twilight Zone episode of the man who dies and goes to heaven. In heaven, he can have everything he could ever dream of just by thinking it into existence. Over time, the…
While some people block out troubling memories, others live with painful memories their whole lives. But it's not about whether we forget or remember, it's about whether we have healed from our past. A painful past only stays painful if we haven't healed. But over time, with patience and self-love, with reflection and introspection, we can heal from anything.The problem is, painful memories don't just stay in our head. They…
To be alive is to be on a lifelong mission of learning. That means that we will have regrets, mistakes, failures, setbacks and difficult challenges in our lives. While we think our past determines our present, it's actually how we relate to our past that matters. In this podcast, I talk about how we can change our relationship with a difficult past. I share ways we can reframe our pain,…
There was a Buddhist mandala that was hanging on the wall at the first Buddhist monastery I lived at. I was captivated by the details and craftsmanship. Really, the whole monastery had this level of detail and beauty. It was quite exquisite. Mandalas are symbolic representations of the universe, designed to transform ordinary minds into enlightened ones. They can be an object of meditation for Buddhists to focus on, either…
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