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Self-Responsibility during the Pandemic

3/23/2020

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Each of us has a responsibility to ourselves, our family, our friends, and everyone who comes across our path.  It is only people who can either contain the virus or spread it.  If all people acted responsibly, the virus would come to a halt.

Therefore all people should follow these rules:

1.  If you have any of the following symptoms, stay home and call your doctor.  If you can, get tested.  If you are around other people, wear a face mask.
    - loss of sense of smell
    - diminished sense of food taste
    - fever
    - dry cough
    - difficulty breathing, shortness of breath

2.  If you have been exposed to someone who is infected, stay at home for 14 days and check for the symptoms.  The virus takes 2-14 days to incubate.

3.  Regardless whether you are infected or not, wash your hands frequently for at least 20 minutes, or use generous amount of hand sanitizer.

4.  Regardless whether you are infected or not, wear a face mask whenever you are in an enclosed space (store, office, public transportation) with other people.  Although a regular face mask is not the best, it will help protect you from air-borne droplets.
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Preparing a Child for Life

3/18/2020

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How is a child guided through life so as to experience peace and happiness — which is different from financial success — rather than fear, anxiety, and other forms of mental suffering?  Is that possible in the world we live in?

The answer is, yes.  And it all depends on his upbringing, his family life.

The myth of childhood is that it is a happy, carefree time. But typically it is neither carefree nor happy; it is instead fraught with insecurity. I wrote a book several years ago, Raising a Happy Child, that seeks to change this fact of human development by fundamentally altering the quality of the relationship between parents and children.

Recently, when my niece and her husband had their first baby, I sent congratulations and offered the following “benediction” for their child.

“May the love and nurturing he receives from his parents and family provide him with the inner strength, security, and self-love to withstand the challenges he will face in the world we live in.

May he know from Kabbalah that his true self is the divine essence … light, goodness, loving ... and may he always return home to that essence throughout his life.

May he grow up to be a mensch, a credit to himself and to humanity.”

Let me address each of these points.  First, what becomes of our lives is overwhelmingly a function of learned experience ... from our family, our peers, and the larger culture ... but first and foremost from our parents.

The vast majority of parents are good people and would not do anything intentionally to harm their child.  But parents are people who are a function of their own upbringing and learned experience. They have their own fears, frustrations, angers, and desires.  And they see things through the lens of that experience and those emotions, which in turn impacts how they interact with their children. The result is children who do not feel loved unconditionally, are as a consequence insecure, and grow up to become insecure adults who do not love themselves unconditionally.  This is the primal basis of our fears and neuroses.

Bottom line, what we have is a dynamic of insecure parents raising insecure children who become insecure adults who raise insecure children who …  It is a vicious cycle, and there are few things more important to the future wellbeing of mankind than breaking this cycle.

How can I say there are few things more important than this?  Because all the world’s dysfunction … all the hatred, violence, prejudice, fear, whatever … is a function of people’s insecurity.  (See my posts, “The Root of All Abuse and Violence - Insecurity,” “Insecurity Is the Cause of Social Conflict and War,” at PreservingAmericanValues.blogspot.com)  For example, some people may exhibit huge egos, but they are in reality insecure children.  Some are so overwhelmed by their insecurity that they turn to dark forces to protect themselves and become evil, divesting themselves of all their humanity.

I should note that when I speak of “unconditional” love this does not mean that parents should simply lavish praise on their children, give them what they want, or be uncritical of their children.  Direction and criticism are important parental functions; the question is how they are given and in what context.  The point is that children should never have any question that they are loved, even when they’re told they’ve done something they shouldn’t have.

The first benediction thus places the focus on parents’ responsibility to provide children with the nurturing they need to become secure, strong children and adults with good self-esteem and a clear understanding their inner ethics and morality.  For more on how parents can achieve this, read Raising a Happy Child.

Before continuing, I should note that this child-rearing advice is contrary to much advice and certainly common practice.  If we are honest, we will admit that the commonality of most families is not an ambiance of love and respect but rather stress and various forms of dysfunction.  Modern parents often seek to prepare their children for life in a hostile world by making sure they have talents which they can weaponize to defeat the competition and have barriers to block both perceived attacks on themselves and thought of the interests of their fellow man.  Such people grow up lacking humanity.

The second benediction speaks to the potential importance of religion in our lives.  But not organized religion, unfortunately.  All the mystical traditions of the three Abrahamic faiths … Gnosticism/
​Christianity, Kabbalah/Judaism, Sufism/Islam … plus of course Buddhism and Hinduism teach the same basic spiritual premise:  that all men are born with the divine/Buddha essence as their true self and that the true nature of man is thus peace and goodness.  The lesson of organized religion is quite different.


They all further teach that what happens once they are born is that they become exposed to life experiences that form the ego, neurosis, and mental suffering.  His true self becomes hidden from him.  Only man can save himself, and he does that be reconnecting with his heart, his divine/Buddha essence.

The final benediction prays that the baby grows up to be a “mensch.”  Mensch is a Yiddish word that basically means a decent human being, someone who acts with kindness towards his fellow man and leads an ethical life.  This has in modern times become more of a social inheritance than a religious one.  For example, I definitely learned to be a mensch from my parents, not from my involvement with Judaism as a youth.  This is basically why most Jews are Democrats; they tend to have a more liberal, caring disposition to the lot of their fellow man.

But anyone can be a mensch, regardless of religion or ethnic background.  Because to be a mensch really means to be a human being, not just in form/body, but in substance/heart.

Being a mensch all comes back to how we are raised.  We will not act with kindness towards our fellow man and lead an ethical life if we are insecure and beset by neuroses.  If we do not know that our true self is our heart, and that our heart is light, goodness, humility, compassion, gratefulness, love, faith, joy, contentment, strength, courage, and wisdom.  If we do not reconnect with the divine/Buddha essence within us.

What we have come to accept as the human condition is not human nature, it is human nurture.  It is how mankind has developed, how we have been raised, the culture we live in.

We have to live and work in the culture, we have to interact with it daily.  But that does not mean that we have to live our lives on its terms.  We can be true to our true selves, to our divine/Buddha essence, and still function in this culture,  Actually, from a mental perspective, we will function much better in this culture with this changed persona, our true self, than with our old persona.

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Being Present - No What If’s or Imagining the Future

3/10/2020

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I have written a number of posts in the past about the importance of being present in the moment, of its centrality to finding peace and happiness in the moment … which is really all one has.

One of the greatest obstacles to being present in the moment is our fear or anxiety about the future.  Why do we have that fear?  The future obviously cannot be known with certainty, and that is a source of anxiety.

Because our ego-mind cannot accept that.  It wants control; it wants certainty.  And so it bombards us with an endless series of “what if’s,” trying to imagine the future.  For many of us, the ego-mind always seems to imagine the answer to these questions negatively.  It has no faith because something or many things in our life experience has robbed us of faith in ourselves and certainly of others.
And so when the ego-mind starts this process, one must stop.  Take a few moments and take some deep breaths.  Center yourself.  Bring yourself back to the present.

Be aware that all of this ego-mind chatter is just thought, not reality.  The only thing one can have regarding the future is thought, conjecture.  The fact that such thought is based on past life experience does not make it reality-based.  How often have you thought negatively about the future, only to find out that something positive occurred?  The past is not a guide to the future.  Because the future is unknowable, such thought is classic mental masturbation.

So don’t let yourself go there.  Say “no” to the ego-mind’s never ending questions.

But as always, when you stop something, when you free yourself from some negative action of your ego-mind, your most replace it with something positive.  That means connecting with your heart and offering yourself joy in the moment.  By taking pleasure in the moment regardless of what is going on.  By being in touch with the positive energy in your heart.  By releasing all desire that your life be different in any way from the way it is right now at this moment.  By being aware of all you are grateful for.  By loving yourself unconditionally and having compassion for yourself.

This is not easy.  The ego-mind is very powerful and persistent.  One must remember that you have identified with your ego-mind your whole life.  Only recently have you begun knowing that your heart is your true self, not your ego-mind.  So it will take a great deal of discipline and strength to say “no” to the ego-mind.  But ultimately, if you want to be at peace and happy, if you want to free yourself of the anguish that you have experienced throughout your life, you just have to do it … say “no” to your ego-mind.

As the Zen monk who trained me always said, “The choice is yours.”  Whether you suffer or not does not depend on what is going on around you or what situation you find yourself in, it depends on your attitude, on your state of mind.

But beware!  Don’t blame yourself for suffering.  Buddhists do not participate in the blame game.  You do not blame the world for your suffering and anxiety.  Neither should you blame yourself.  As I have often written, blame or guilt requires that you do something of your own free will.  Because our ego-mind is programmed by our life experiences to be the way it is, we have only a small area of true free will.  As Ernestine, the Flip Wilson drag persona used to say, “The devil made me do it!”

​
We only expand that free will when we disassociate ourselves from our ego-mind and connect with our heart, our true self.  Then we have the choice the monk spoke of.  But again, we should not blame ourselves for not taking such action, for not disassociating ourselves, because the ego-mind is so powerful and deeply rooted.  All we can ask of ourselves is that we do the best we can.
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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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