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Active Meditation Practice: The Stories We Tell Ourselves
Read time 3 minutes. This active meditation practice is a stand alone article in our series regarding mindfulness and meditation. In earlier lessons I spoke at length about the practice of letting go. Today we merge that theme with our discussion of active meditation. The practice I’ll outline is simple: it can be done in leisure time,…
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Presence and Active Meditation: The Practice Field of This Moment
Read time 4 minutes. Presence and Active Meditation is a stand alone article in our series regarding mindfulness and meditation. In our last lesson we considered active meditations and their potential to lead us into deeper states of awareness. I suggested they can even open the door to Absolute Presence and Absolute Freedom. That is a bold claim, and perhaps a…
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Active Meditation: What Is It? What Are the Benefits?
Read time 2 minutes. Active Meditation is a stand alone article in our series regarding mindfulness and meditation. Today we take up the value of active meditation. Since all forms of meditation invite presence into our lives, we will also return to this theme in the next few lessons. Presence, after all, is at the heart of…
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Traditional Meditation: A Realistic, Come to Buddha, Conversation
Read time 2 minutes. Managing our expectations of meditation. Traditional meditation is a stand alone article in our series regarding mindfulness and meditation. We won’t be talking about technique today, but about the real value of traditional meditation—and the challenges that inevitably come with it. When I first began meditating, my expectations were sky-high. I thought traditional…
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Beyond Mindfulness and the Limitation of Expectations
Read time 5 minutes. Beyond Mindfulness is a stand alone article in our series regarding mindfulness and meditation. I recently read an article on McGill regarding mindfulness meditation which addressed some of the possible shortcomings of that practice. The article states that many studies seem to indicate that, at least in the short term, mindfulness…
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Letting Go of Illusion: An Invitation to the Present Moment
Read time 3 minutes. Letting Go of Illusion is a stand alone article within our letting go series. Sometimes I dream something bleak. A tragedy. A loss. A situation I don’t want to deal with. Then I realize—oh, I’m dreaming. And in that moment, everything lifts. Relief rushes in. The burden vanishes. Letting go of illusion feels a…
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A Universal Act of Letting Go: Easing Inner Struggle
Read time 3 minutes. A Universal Act of Letting Go is a stand alone article within our letting go series. In our last lesson, we began exploring a universal act of letting go—a practice that sidesteps individual emotional battles in favor of something far more encompassing. Let’s slow down and take a closer look. Why does this method…
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Practice of Letting Go: Looking Within
Read time 3 minutes. What do we mean by ‘practice of letting go?’ This stand alone article is part of our letting go series. Over the past few lessons, we’ve unpacked the layered nature of emotional activity. We explored mood as the ego’s barometer, emotions as the voice of instinct, and the feedback loops fueled by imagination.…
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Authentic/Inauthentic Emotions: Exploring Our True Feelings
Read time 4 minutes. Today we examine our authentic and inauthentic emotions. Some mental activity gives rise to inauthentic emotions, which serve to distract us and prohibit us from doing important inner work. This stand alone article is part of our letting go series. Let’s begin to explore this idea by considering a hypothetical situation. Perhaps we…