Tag: neutral observation
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Neutral Observation Meditation in Review: Taking Back the Reins
Read time 3 minutes. Neutral Observation Meditation is a stand alone article in our series regarding mindfulness and meditation. In recent lessons we’ve explored what I’ve loosely called active meditations. One of the most accessible of these is neutral observation meditation—learning to step back and watch our thoughts and emotions even as we’re caught up in stories, games,…
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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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Emotional Freedom: Zen and the Art of Letting Go
Read time 3 minutes. Emotional Freedom is the first stand alone article in our continuing series regarding letting go. What would it feel like to experience true emotional freedom?What steps would we take to begin? For many of us, even on good days, there’s a weight—an untraceable tension that hangs beneath our other experiences. A…
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Observing and Accepting Meditation Technique In Review
Read time 2 minutes. Observing and accepting meditation sits with the ego, not against it. This is the final article in our self-control series. Hopefully, by now, you’ve had a chance to experiment with this practice. Just a simple itch. A flicker of discomfort. A moment of stillness. What did it show you? At face…
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Observing and Accepting Meditation Technique: Sitting With an Itch
Read time 2 minutes. A quirky and effective observing and accepting meditation technique for using physical sensation to examine resistance, ego, and true acceptance. This stand alone article is part of our series regarding self-control. Today’s lesson is one of the most direct, experiential practices I can offer. So far, we’ve been circling around some…
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Self-Control and the Tyranny of the Ego
Read time 2 minutes. The first stand alone article in our self-control series. One of the more confounding truths we run into early on is this:We long for lasting peace, but no direct effort brings it about.So instead, we position ourselves.We create conditions.We wait, if we’re earnest, something deeper might move. That’s where self-control often…
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Mind Means Disturbance—and That’s Not a Problem
Read time 3 minutes. Turn overthinking into a useful tool—an alert for mindfulness into peace of mind. A common misconception of Zen training is that we’re supposed to rid ourselves of all thoughts and emotions. But if we make that the goal, we’ll likely end up frustrated. As Nisargadatta Maharaj says in I Am That, “There…