In pursuing self-discipline is our imagination working for us or against us?
Whenever we decide to discipline ourselves, we are often jolted into action by external situations. For instance, we may notice how much weight we have [...]
What’s wrong with the worldview of dread?
What's wrong with the worldview of dread? The worldview of dread refers to a deep-rooted fear of the entangling nature of existence, characterized by a [...]
What’s wrong with the worldview of despair?
The worldview of despair arises when individuals believe that life has no inherent meaning. This outlook often emerges when people recognize the futility of materialistic [...]
Why exhaust ourselves by believing in our worries when we can energize ourselves by believing in God’s promises?
When we encounter challenging situations, our minds tend to focus on all the ways things might go wrong. This constant worrying can drain us, filling [...]
Developing Resilience by Changing Our Driving Question
We all need to develop resilience because life is hard—it will knock us down sooner or later. Resilience is largely determined by what goes on [...]
Be upright not uptight be gentle but not fickle
To be upright means to have high moral integrity and resistance to temptation or corruption. On the other hand, to be uptight means to be [...]
Detachment: Gaining flexibility and perspective
Attachments often make us rigid in ways that are curious, as we become inflexible about things that aren’t particularly important. For example, we might [...]
Anxiety: is it coming from insecurity or from gravity?
Anxiety: is it coming from insecurity or from gravity? - Anxiety can arise from a sense of insecurity or a sense of gravity. The latter [...]
Unmanageable Emotions and Temptation: Seeking Relief Through Indulgence
Our vulnerability to temptation comes not just from unmanageable desires but also from unmanaged emotions. Whenever we succumb to temptation, we tend to think that [...]
When the urgent seems important and makes us impotent
When the urgent seems important and makes us impotent - Suppose we have ten urgent things to do that all seem equally important. If these [...]
How to let go of the unchangeable
How to let go of the unchangeable - Suppose a dream project of ours fails irrecoverably. Having no other alternatives, we may grit our teeth [...]
How to cultivate equanimity?
In today’s fast-paced world characterized by sudden and massive changes, we often appreciate people who stay cool-headed. How can we too develop such equanimity? Do [...]
How purification can empower us all
Purification is often equated with being puritanical, which may evoke images of holier-than-thou people morally policing everyone else. Influenced by such images, we may not [...]
How to deal with feelings of inferiority?
While technology has shrunk the world, it has also expanded the world in the sense that we get constantly compared with the best from various [...]
How to go beyond the extremes of denial and despair?
We live constantly in that fleeting moment where the present gives way to the future. How we look at the present and at the future [...]
How inner bridges and inner barricades can empower us
Our mind is sometimes a source of creative ideas and sometimes a source of destructive desires. Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (06.05) urges us to elevate ourselves [...]
How can we be more cheerful?
We often think that we will become happy when some good things happen to us or when our dreams are fulfilled. While that is true, [...]
How to ensure that anger is constructive, not destructive
We all sometimes encounter injustice and brutality, as when we see police excesses against the helpless. If such experiences make us feel outraged, that is [...]
How to deal with the mind’s craziness
How to deal with the mind’s craziness Suppose we have been giving into an unhealthy craving of our mind for a long time. Then, the [...]
Protecting ourselves by defining and defending boundaries
Suppose a country has a hostile neighbor, who is constantly trying to infiltrate into its territory. If the boundary between the two countries is not [...]
Two ways to deal with dissatisfaction
Two ways to deal with dissatisfaction When we see some things we don’t have — a bigger house, a faster car, a newer phone — [...]