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The Path is Never-Ending

3/20/2017

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The other morning I was meditating and realized something about my progress on the path.  I have been seriously walking the path for more than 20 years.  For the last 21 years I have meditated every day in the morning when I get up, no matter where I am, no matter what has been going on in my life.  I have led a very disciplined practice and my faith in the Buddha dharma has been very deep virtually from the start.

Yet despite all of that, while I would say that I have been a very spiritual person and achieved a state of great calm most of the time, and eventually started this blog and wrote several helpful books, it is only relatively recently, in the past two years, that I have reached a different plateau in my practice.

And that has happened because of the happenstance of my partner buying several books that we have been reading together at night before we go to bed.  It is the teaching I have received from those books, and my further meditation on those teachings and application of them to my life, that has made it possible.

In both Seeking the Heart of Wisdom  by Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein and The Art of Being and Becoming by Hazrat Khan, the importance of knowing what’s most important to you, what you value most, and having the intent of doing whatever is necessary spiritually to achieve that is stressed.  One must keep this value and intent at the forefront of your mind at all times.  (See my post, “What Is Most Important To You?”)   The Tibetan Lojung also talk about the importance of forming an intent.

In many ways, forming the intent is possibly the most difficult part of the entire process, the highest barrier.  Because forming an intent to take any spiritual step raises the ire of the ego-mind.  Whether it’s showing everyone loving kindness, whether it’s accepting things as being as they are, whether it’s embracing all aspects of your being and experience … the ego-mind says “are you crazy?” to these suggestions.

It takes a powerful motivator to give us the will to say “no” to the guidance of our ego-mind and so form the necessary intent.  As expressed in my previous post, “Changing Your Reactions,” those motivators can be hitting rock bottom with your suffering or knowing that your reactions cause someone you love much suffering, much agitation.  Clearly just being aware that your feelings and emotions cause you suffering is not normally sufficient to counter the power of the ego-mind.

Once you have formed the intent, it is then in one sense a rather straight-forward matter to implement that intent, although often still easier said than done.  Never underestimate the power of the ego-mind.

In doing the exercise described in the post, “Imagining in Meditation,” there are several tools that I have learned to use, some from these recent teachings one from old, in developing a spiritual way of responding to events or people, rather than my habit energy.

One way is to react to the event or person as, “It’s just the way it is.”  I received this teaching perhaps 20 years ago, but I became aware of its full impact only many years later, as explained in my post, “It’s Just the Way It Is.”  I have imagined situations that would agitate me very much, raise my righteous indignation.  But when I said, “It’s just the way it is,” I was able to see how to react to that situation with dispassion, and so with my mind undisturbed I was open to receiving all that the present moment had to offer, be grateful, and find happiness in the moment.

After reading a teaching in What If the Buddha Dated, a friend suggested that I open my heart and embrace all aspects of my being and experience.  What happened when I did that is described in my post, “The Heart’s Embrace.”  It was a transformative moment that changed some especially deep-rooted habit energies of mine.

Finally, another tool I have used often as an adjunct to the previous two comes from Emmanuel’s Book by Pat Rodegast and Judith Stanton.  They advise you to test every guidance your receive.  And if the guidance is not “right” for you, which in my case means that it pulls me away from peace and happiness, then it is your responsibility to reject that guidance and return to your heart.  See my post “Test the Wisdom of What You’re Doing or Thinking of Doing.”

Once I knew that what I wanted most was to be at peace and happy, that became my touchstone against which all guidance was evaluated.  If I felt agitated in any way, that was a red flag that either what I was doing or thinking was not skillful, or I was approaching it in a way that wasn’t skillful.  In the former instance I had to stop whatever I was doing; in the latter, I had to find a way to approach an otherwise skillful action with equanimity.  See my post, “How to Desire Yet Not Crave.”


Underlying all these practices, and essential to their fruitful implementation, is a deep and abiding faith that your true self is your heart, and that all will be well regardless what life throws your way because you will always return home to your true Buddha nature, your heart, and be at peace and happy. This faith and these teachings in concert have allowed me for the most part to truly be at peace and happy.  I feel very blessed.  Each day presents new challenges.  But now I am better prepared for what life will throw at me.
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Changing Your Reactions

3/15/2017

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The serenity prayer says, “Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change (which is the way my life is right now) and the courage to change the things I can (which is how I relate to myself and the world around me … the thoughts I think, the words I speak, and the actions I take).  That really comes pretty close to the essence of the Buddha’s teaching on how to end suffering.

The most difficult part is changing our reactions to ourselves and the things around us.  These habit-energies are so ingrained, so powerful.  They have formed our identity and what we thought about our place in the world for all of our life until we were exposed to the Buddha dharma.

The first thing one must do to really make progress on this is to form the intent to change your various reactions.  And this is not a global thing; one must be aware and have the intent to change each and every reaction you have.  This is an extremely difficult thing to form because our ego-mind poses a high barrier to the formation of any intent to implement spiritual teaching.

The other morning while meditating, I thought about my past experiences and realized that to overcome this barrier, two things were essential.  You had to have deep faith ... in your true self being your heart and that all will be well regardless what life throws your way because you will always return home to your true Buddha nature, your heart, and be at peace and happy.  And there has to be a powerful motivator to give us the will to say “no” to our ego-mind.  I have experienced such a motivator in various forms.

One motivator was knowing that my habit reactions caused someone I loved much suffering, much agitation.  For example, I felt only righteous indignation when I got angry at certain things or people, but he suffered because it surrounded him with a very negative energy which dragged him down.  Or I did some things habitually which seemed very benign and even helpful to me, but they again caused him much suffering because they robbed him of his strength and self-confidence.  Because of my love for him, and only because of that love, I formed the will, the intent, to change my way of reacting to or relating to certain things.

Another motivator was hitting rock bottom, a very dark space.  As I’ve written before, this was the case with my addiction.  Although I certainly thought I had the desire to end my addiction many times, it was only when I really hit rock bottom that I had the will power to form an intent and implement it to save myself.  Even then it was a hard and long process, and still I will always be a recovering addict; it is always there, lurking.  This is why so many people who are addicts relapse after short periods of sobriety … they have not hit rock bottom.

On matters where the ego is not as threatened, the desire to experience peace and happiness, to not suffer, can be a sufficient motivator to change one’s habitual reaction to events.

But having the motivation still doesn’t get you home free.  You’ve formed the intent, but now how do you implement it?  How do you not fall into your habit-energy?

In pursuing this in my meditation, I realized both from my own experience and from the Lojung that a very helpful tool was to use imagination during meditation.  I described this more fully in a post, “Imagining in Meditation.”  Basically, while meditating you imagine a particular situation arising.  You see how you habitually would respond to it, and how you suffer, and then you see how you can respond to it in a spiritual way which brings you peace and happiness instead.  


When you’ve done this exercise during meditation, and it may take numerous times, you will find that when such situations actually arise, you are able to implement a spiritual reaction rather than your ego habit-energy.  And each time you are able to do this, your life is changed.  You have progressed on the path.
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The Hurt of Rejection - Its Enduring Impact

3/7/2017

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One of our four essential needs is emotional nourishment.  This nourishment can be received as love, respect, acknowledgment.  When we as a baby/child do not receive the love we need, when we as a child/adolescent do not receive respect, and when are ignored and unwanted by peers, we suffer rejection.

The reason why suffering is universal is because virtually everyone suffers from not receiving sufficient love/nourishment as a baby, which makes us very sensitive to any lack of respect and being excluded from the friendship of our peers that we perceive as we are growing up, which occurs frequently.  These rejections become part of our core insecurity that bedevils us and forms our patterns of behavior, the way we interact with ourselves and the world around us, for the rest of our lives.

For most of us, this syndrome causes us to put up a wall between ourselves and those around us.  The wall is high for those we don’t know.  Even for those we know, who are in our family or peer group, the wall is there, never allowing us to completely be completely at ease and thus vulnerable.  We always feel we need to be on guard, to protect ourselves.

On the other hand, we crave attention and respect and yes, love.  But the protective wall we’ve constructed around our heart is a barrier to such experiences.  If strangers sense this wall most just don’t bother approaching us, or if they do, we are so filled with distrust that we do not react to proffered kindness and are perceived as being rude.  For those within our circle, the wall allows relationships but keeps them very much on the surface.  Deep, meaningful, caring relationships are not formed.

Thus, we suffer.  We long for the very thing which our insecurity does not allow us to be open to.  The classic internal struggle of samsara.

There are those, however, who do not react to this pattern of early rejection by building a wall.  They instead seek to answer their need by pursuing love, respect, and acknowledgment with gusto.  By being open, giving, thoughtful, caring.

And what happens when they offer help and friendship?  Since the vast majority of people have built a wall around themselves, they are usually viewed with distrust as strangers.  Or if they are allowed to enter the circle of familiarity, they find no depth there and often will ultimately be rejected because at some point the person feels more comfortable with the security of the wall than with the challenge presented by the proffered friendship.  And so both suffer.

The only way out of this conundrum regardless of the path one has taken (I didn’t say “chosen” because we don’t choose the path, it chooses us) is through our disciplined spiritual practice.  From understanding that the guidance we get from our ego-mind causes us suffering, that the ego-mind is not our true self, and saying “not me” to all our emotions, judgments, cravings, and attachments.  To opening up our heart to embrace all aspects of our being and experience,  knowing that we have everything we need inside ourselves to be at peace and happy, and rejecting our ego-mind’s guidance, returning to our heart.

From your own experience, and from reading my posts, you know the challenges of walking the path.  The power of the ego-mind to pull us from the path cannot be underestimated.  But with faith and discipline, we can make progress in freeing ourselves from the intervention of our ego-mind and so find peace and happiness.  Hopefully the guidance I offer in my posts will be of help.  For a brief overview of the most important steps, you may want to read “The 3-Legged Stool of Spirituality” and “End of Suffering Cheat Sheet.”
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    All
    1. The Goal Of Buddhism
    2. End Of Suffering Cheat Sheet
    3. 12 Steps On The Buddhist Path
    4. The Choice Is Yours
    5. You Have A Self But It's Not The Ego
    A Buddhist Trinity - Amended
    A Buddhist Trinity - Further Support
    A Buddhist Trinity - The Core Path To Peace And Happiness.
    A Carefree Day And Life
    Acceptance Courage And Wisdom
    Accepting The Life Of Those Around You
    Acknowledgement Of The Cause Of Suffering Is Key
    Allow Nothing To Disturb Your Peace And Happiness
    An Open Letter To President-elect Trump And All Americans
    Antagonist Or Challenge?
    A Path To Compassion And Loving Kindness
    Approaching The Other Shore
    Are You Reading And Willing To Let Your Cravings Go?
    As A Buddhist How Do You Plan - Revisited Again - Relying On Your Buddha Nature
    As A Buddhist How Do You Think About The Future?
    As A Buddhist … Revisited Again - Do We Need To Know Where We’re Headed?
    As A Buddhist ... Revisited - Planning Without Thinking
    As A Buddhist … Revisited Yet Again - How Do You Implement Moving Forward Without Having A Destination Point?
    A Simpler Path To Experiencing Joy
    Attachment To Self
    Avatars - Their Usefulness
    Back To Basics
    Be A Light Unto Yourself And Others
    Be Aware When Reading - Yearn To Please Or To Offer Joy?
    Be Careful The Monk/Teacher You Choose
    Befriend Yourself
    Being Aware Of Abundance
    Being Good To Yourself
    Being - Not Being
    Being One With Your True Buddha Self
    Being Present Is Being Flexible
    Being Present Is The Key To Peace And Contentment
    Being Present - No What If’s Or Imagining The Future
    Being Present - Part 2
    Being Present Requires Faith
    Being There For Someone
    Belief In You Buddha Nature - The Beginning And The End
    Be One With Your Divine Essence
    Be Sustained By The Love Of Buddha Within You
    Be The Eye Of The Hurricane
    Beware Complacency
    Beyond Acceptance
    Beyond Awareness
    Beyond Dispassion - The Next Step
    Boredom
    Boundaries
    Buddha Mind - Child Mind
    Buddha Mind Free Of Thought
    Buddha Nature Gentle And Serene
    Buddhism And The Divine
    Burying Your Old Identity
    Can't Find Your Buddha Nature - Look In The Mirror
    Change Your Life By Changing The Direction Of Its Energy Flow
    Changing The Direction Of Your Energy Flow - II - Manifesting
    Changing Your Reactions
    Chicken Or Egg ?
    Co-existence Of Buddha Nature And Ego-Mind
    Compassion
    Control
    Craving "Survival" Condemns You To Suffering
    Crying - An Understanding
    Darkness Before Light
    Death And Life
    Death And Life - Part 2
    Death Heaven And Hell
    Deflating The Ego
    Dependence
    Desire - The Gerbil Trap
    Desperate For Love And Acknowledgment?
    Discipline - It’s Essential
    Dislike - An Insidious Obstruction
    Dispassion Does Not Mean Wtihout Feeling
    Dispassion - Enter The State Of By Becoming Aware Of The Emptiness Of Our Ego-mind
    Dispassion - Obstacles And Options To Achieve It
    Dispassion - Unlocking The Doors
    Don't Just Say No To Your Mind
    Don’t Waste A Moment
    Don’t Waste A Moment
    Do We Suffer Or Not? - The Choice Is Ours
    Do You Really Want To Be At Peace And Content
    Ego - Changing Your Relationship With It
    Embrace The Moment Not Merely Accept
    Emptiness - What Does It Mean?
    Emptying Myself Of Myself - The Divine's Will Not Mine
    Enter Your Buddha Mind
    Equanimity But Feel Someone’s Pain
    Everything That Disturbs Us Is A Product Of Suffering
    Everything You Need To Be Happy
    Evil - How Should A Buddhist Respond?
    Expectations? - Not If You Want To End Suffering
    Experiencing The Fullness Of The Present
    Facing My Insecurity
    Faith And Mind Not Separate
    Faith And Mind Not Separate - 2
    Faith And Reason
    Faith Even When You Are Dependent On Others
    Faith: The Essential Element Of Spiritual Practice
    Faith: What Is It And Why Is It Essential?
    Fear And Anxiety - There's More
    Fear Anxiety And Craving - Chicken Or Egg #2
    Fear Arises From Our Desire To Control
    Fearlessness
    Fear's Destructive Impact
    Fear V Common Sense
    Fear V Faith
    Feeling Lack - A Most Insidious Perception
    Feeling Off? - Adjust Your Attitude
    Finding Happiness In Each Moment
    Forgiveness - A Different Take
    Freedom From The Future
    Freedom From The Known
    Freedom - What Does It Mean?
    Freeing Yourself From Anger And Resentment
    Freeing Yourself From Attachments
    Freeing Yourself From Fear
    Freeing Yourself From Fear II
    Freeing Yourself From Suffering - The Prerequisite Step
    Free Of Thought - Important Clarification
    Frustration ... Our Canary In The Mine
    Get Over Yourself
    Getting To Know Your True Buddha Self
    Give Yourself A Choice
    Going Through Life With Blinders - The Obstruction Of Labels
    Good Guys Finish Last?
    Go Slow
    Grateful For Being Alive
    Guilt
    Guilt And The Defensive Beast
    Happenstance
    Happenstance - Part II - You Your Buddha Nature And The Universe
    Happiness Is Elusive
    Happiness - What You Need To Be Happy
    Happy New Year 2017?
    Have Directions Not Goals
    Have Faith In The Process
    Have You Heard Of Narcs - The Final Answer To Why I Was Frowning
    Healing Your Inner Child - Healing Your Wounded Heart
    Healing Your Inner Child - Update
    Hell Is Just Resistance To Life
    How I Failed Myself
    How The Ego-Mind Tries To Destroy Faith
    How To Desire Yet Not Crave?
    How To Find Faith?
    How To Find Your True Self Your Heart
    How To Free Yourself From The Control Of Your Ego-Mind
    How To Live In Our World
    How To Love Yourself
    How To Observe Through The Eyes Of Your True Buddha Self
    How To Offer Others Joy
    How To Protect Yourself Against Psychic Attack
    How To Respond To Acts Of Aggression
    How To Spiritually Respond To The Election?
    How To Start The Day
    How To Surrender Your Ego Or Turn Your Will And Your Life Over To The Care Of Your True Buddha Nature
    Humbling Myself
    Humility
    Humility: The Truth About "My" Good Accomplishments
    I Am Being Reborn
    I Am Therefore I Am
    If Nothing Offends All Internal Struggle Ceases
    If This Is Practical Buddhism Why The Pastoral Setting
    "If You Love Someone You Will Suffer"
    Imagining In Meditation
    I’m Grateful To Be A Jubu
    Inner Happiness - Outer Happiness
    Innocence Or Ignorance?
    Insecurity - Nurture Not Nature
    Instead Of Forgiveness Show Compassion
    It Doesn’t Have To Be
    It's All About Survival - Or Is It?
    It's A Sin -The Harm We Inflict On Ourselves
    It’s Just The Way It Is
    It’s Just The Way It Is And It’s All OK
    It’s No Crime To Think About Oneself!
    Joy - A Hopefully Final Take
    Joy - At Last Real Understanding
    Joy - Experience It Now
    Joyful Dispassion - Excited Non-attachment
    Joyful Dispassion - Update
    Joy/Happiness - A Choice We Make
    Joy - One More Take
    Joy - Yet Another Take
    Knowing Best?
    Know Thyself - The Power Of Awareness
    Lack V Abundance
    Let Go - Let God
    Letting Go
    Letting Others Go Their Way
    Liberate Yourself From Thinking
    Likes And Dislikes - A Potential Trap Examined
    Listening - Why Is It So Difficult?
    Love At First Sight - NOT
    Love/Loving-Kindness - Defined In The Buddhist Context
    Love Yourself Unconditionally
    Make It Your Own - An Extension Of “The Heart’s Embrace”
    Making Lists - Objectifying Your Fears The Things That Push Your Buttons
    Making Peace With The Outside; Making Peace With The Inside
    Making The Most Of Every Day
    Manifestation - DANGER DANGER!
    Manifesting
    Manifesting In The Moment
    Meditation - Coming Home Releasing And Being At Peace
    Meditation - The Importance Of Daily Practice
    Memory - Don’t Trust It
    Mental Obstructions
    Mind Resting Undisturbed
    Mirror Mirror On The Wall - A Revelation
    Money And Spirituality
    My Daily Task
    My Daily Task - 2
    My Ego's Sneak Attack
    My Life - A Being Dichotomized
    My Meditation Isn't Working!
    My Mind Trapped Me
    My Road To Peace
    My True Buddha Self And Me
    Nature Of Mind Revealed - A Transformation
    Never Stop Going Deeper
    Newly Discovered Trauma
    Nirvana - It's Right Before Your Eyes
    No Expectations No Hope?
    No One’s Life Is Ordinary
    No Reason To Be Defensive
    No Self - Not!
    No Spiritual Force Can Protect You From Yourself Your Mind
    Not Engaging Your Thoughts
    Nothing To Prove
    Not Me - Peeling Off The Layers Of Our Ego-Mind
    Observe
    Offering Others Joy - From The Heart
    Offer Joy Experience Joy
    Offer Myself Joy!
    Oneness Does Not Mean Sameness
    Opening The Door To Being Present
    Our Over-sexed Culture And Lives
    Pain - A Cry For Help
    Paradise Lost
    Peace And Happiness Is Your Birthright
    Personal Boundaries As Part Of A Buddhist Life
    Preparing A Child For Life
    Pride Is A Function Of The Devil
    Problem - NOT!
    Proof Of The Nature Of Mind - Fear Ego And Buddha Mind
    Prosperity And Abundance
    Protecting Yourself From The Elements
    Psychiatry Needs To Incorporate Buddhist Teaching
    Putting Spirituality Into Practice 24/7
    Que Sera Sera - Whatever Will Be Will Be
    Real Clarity V The Delusion Of Clarity
    Reality Is Not What We Experience
    Receiving The Love Of Your Buddha Nature
    Reciting Affirmations
    Reclaiming The Narrative Of My Life - II
    Reclaiming The “Story” Of Your Life
    Reflecting On 75 Years
    Reincarnation - An Unorthodox Take
    Rejoice And Be Happy
    Rejoice And Be Happy - II
    Releasing All Desire
    Releasing All Desire - II
    Releasing Negative Energy
    Renouncing What You Have Always Depended On
    Replacing Weakness With Strength
    Reprogram Your Mind To End Your Suffering
    Returning Home - Returning To Your True Buddha Nature
    Right Attitude
    Ritual Burning Of The Past
    Safety Defined
    Saying Grace
    Saying “No” To Negative Thought
    Seeing The Light
    Seeing Through The Eyes Of Your True Buddha Self
    Seek And You Shall Find
    Seeking Guidance From Buddha Mind Not Ego Mind
    See Things Through Your Heart Not Your Mind
    See Yourslef And The World Through Different Eyes
    Self Re-examined
    Self-Responsibility During The Pandemic
    Sex - Misused And Abused - A Different Perspective
    Shall We Dance? - An Invitation To The Dance Of Death
    Shame
    Soul’s Yearning Distorted By The Ego-Mind
    Soul -True Self - And Ego-Mind
    Speaking The Truth
    Speaking To Your Buddha Nature/Divinity/Heart
    Speak The Truth But Beware
    Starving The Ego
    Step #10: Continued To Be Mindful Of The Arising Of Cravings And Desires And When They Arose Did Not Attach To Them And Allowed Them To Subside.
    Step #11: Sought Through Meditation To Constantly Improve Our Conscious Contact With Our True Buddha Nature
    Step #1: Admitted Our Cravings Cause Us Suffering And That We Are Powerless Over Them
    Step #2: Came To Believe That Our True Buddha Nature Could Restore Us To Peace And Created A Platform Of Serenity
    Step #3: Committed Ourselves To The Path By Practicing The Five Precepts And The Six Paramitas
    Step #4 Came To Believe That All Our Perceptions Are Learned - That They Are Just A Product Of Our Ego-mind - And That Our Ego-mind Is Not Our True Self - Instead We Knew That Our True Self Is Our Heart.
    Step #5: Were Ready And Willing And Made A Decision To Surrender Our Ego And Turn Our Will And Our Lives Over To The Care Of Our True Buddha Nature Opening Our Heart To Embrace All Aspects Of Our Being.
    Step #6: Came To Believe That We Have Everything We Need Within Ourselves To Be At Peace And Happy
    Step #7: Came To Be Free Of Our Cravings
    Step #8: Were Entirely Ready To Love Ourselves Unconditionally And Have Compassion For Ourselves And To Accept Ourselves And The World Around Us As Being The Way They Are Because It's Just The Way It Is.
    Step #9: Made A List Of Persons We Had Harmed And Made Amends To Them
    Stopping Self-Sabotage
    Strength Not Courage
    Suffering Is Universal - But Why?
    Survival - The Force That Controls Our Life
    Taking Pleasure In Each Passing Moment
    Taking Refuge In Yourself
    Taking Responsibility Is Not Blame
    Teaching Only Points The Way
    Test The Wisdom Of What You’re Doing Or Thinking Of Doing
    The 3-legged Stool Of Spirituality
    The Art Of Self-Nurturing
    The Challenge Of Staying Aware
    The Coexistence Of Ego And Buddha Nature
    The Devil Is Alive And Well
    The Distinction Between Pain And Suffering
    The Divine And Man
    The Ego As Saboteur
    The Emptiness Of Intrinsic Existence And Its Relevance To Global Warming
    The Felt Need For Acknowledgment
    The Five Precepts
    The Four Bodhisattva Vows
    The Fourfold Path To Freedom
    The Four Noble Truths
    The Freedom Of Focusing On Someone Or Something Outside Yourself
    The Heart/Mind Divide
    The Heart’s Embrace - More On Freeing Ourselves
    The Heart's Embrace - Updated
    The Hurt Of Rejection - Its Enduring Impact
    The Illusion Of Control
    The Imperative Of Self-Preservation
    The Lessons Of Siddhartha
    The Light Within You
    The Limits Of Rational Thought
    The Meaning And Power Of Selflessness
    The Middle Way - A Way Back From The Breach
    The Mind And The Wounded Inner Child
    The Mind And Your Inner Child - II
    The Mind Is Sneaky - Surrender It
    The Mind's Deep State
    The Mind - Suffering Connection
    The Miracle That Is You
    The Misleading Teaching Of No Self
    The Missing Noble Truth
    The Myanmar Situation
    The Mystery Of The Ego - An Answer
    The New Me - I Not I
    The Noble Eightfold Path
    The Original Trauma - Birth
    The Parable Of The Raft
    The Path As Tightrope
    The Path From Peace To Joy
    The Path Is Never-Ending
    The Power Of Affirmations - Use Carefully
    The Power Of Giving Voice To Thoughts
    The Present Beyond Us
    The Purpose Of Life
    The Purpose Of Meditation
    The Push/Pull Of Ego-Mind
    The Question Is Not Whether The Glass Is Half Empty Or Half Full
    There Are No Bad Persons
    There Is Nothing Wrong With You
    The Remnants Of The Ego
    The Serenity Prayer
    The Soul’s Yearning And How Best To Fulfill It
    The Stages Of Acceptance
    The Stages Of Man’s Spirit
    The Subconscious
    The Three Stages Of Embrace
    The Truth – Seeing It And Speaking It
    The Unaware Consumer
    The Wisdom Of Chickens
    The Wisdom Of Now
    This Is Not Me This Is Not My Self
    Thought Objects
    To Free Yourself From Cravings You Must Free Yourself Of Fear
    To Love Unconditionally = Loving-Kindness
    Tonglen - How To Approach Its Practice
    To Observe Free Of Mind - To Experience Joy
    To See Opportunity You Must Be Free Of Fear
    To Thine Own Self Be True
    Trauma
    Trauma Begets Trauma
    Trauma Denied No Longer
    Trauma - Healing It Is Critical
    Trauma - It’s Release
    Turning Your Will Over To Your True Buddha Nature
    Waking Up
    Walking Away From Modernity
    Walking On The Beach
    Walking The Path - It’s A Lot Of Work But It’s Well Worth It
    Wealth Poverty And Buddhism
    We Are All One
    We Are Not Meant To Suffer
    We Have Everything We Need To Be At Peace And Happy Inside Ourselves
    We Have Lost Our Sense Of Place
    We Make Our Own Mental Environment
    We Never Stop Healing
    What Activates The Ego-Mind?
    What Are We Celebrating On July 4th?
    What Blocks Me From Being Truly Present And Radiating My Inner Energy 24/7?
    What If The Present Is Bad?
    What Is Joy? What Is Happiness?
    What Is Life Without Emotion?
    What Is Most Important To You?
    What Is Your Task In Life?
    What Lies Behind Our Good Deeds?
    What Nourishes My Soul?
    What Price Peace And Happiness?
    What's In A Name?
    What's Real And What’s Not Real?
    What’s The Real Challenge - Life Or The Ego?
    What To Do When You Lose Faith?
    What Use Fame Power Fortune?
    What You Can’t Will And What You Can
    When A Heart’s Desire Is Commandeered By The Ego
    When Joy Is Not Joy
    When Love Is Not Love ...
    When Nothing Offends
    When Really Bad Things Happen
    When Smiling Toddlers Cry
    When The Mind Intervenes
    Who Am I?
    Who Are You?
    Who/What Is Your True Self?
    Why Diets Fail - A Buddhist Perspective
    Why Do We Crave?
    Why Is Being Grateful Such A Challenge?
    Why Is It So Hard To Be Free Of Your Ego?
    Why Is Mankind Trapped In A Box?
    Why Point The Compass Towards Tomorrow?
    Why We Take Offense
    Wisdom - What Is It?
    Wounded Our Ego-Mind Becomes The Devil
    Yes Virginia There Is A True Buddha Nature
    Yet Another Past Attachment
    You Are Not Alone
    You As Observer
    You Can Be In Control
    You Don't Need To Be Liked
    Your True Self And The Irrelevance Of The Min

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