Losing the core of who we are
That the world is changing is just life's inevitable reality. But how we are responding to it is not inevitable. It is either intentional or [...]
Resisting Temptations
Even if we can't stop temptation from coming to us, we can still stop ourselves from going to temptation. We live in a temptation-filled world, [...]
The present moment
The only time that we have to do anything is the present moment, the present is the only time not only that we have now [...]
Intelligent mind management
Intelligence means to focus on not just the thoughts that are maximized by the mind but also the thoughts that are minimized by the mind. [...]
The higher taste is not smaller it is subtler
When we strive to practice spirituality and gain the higher taste of spiritual happiness, we sometimes feel that this happiness is much smaller than the [...]
Emotions: not commanded but cultivated
Even though emotions can't be commanded, they can still be cultivated. Suppose someone is feeling cold. We can't command them not to feel cold. But [...]
Two ways to avoid agitation
Whenever something happens in the world, which is agitating, be it in the form of some temptation or some trouble coming upon us, how can [...]
The cure for dissatisfaction
Whenever we feel dissatisfied, we often attribute it to some external cause: 'I don't have this house. I don't have this car. I don't have [...]
How to stop worrying about problems
Whenever we are faced with problems, it is natural that we may start worrying about how to drive those problems away. But sometimes, those problems [...]
Peace in the presence of disturbance
Whenever we are disturbed and we are seeking peace, how do we go about doing that? Often, we seek to drive the disturbance away. If [...]
Purification is inner empowerment
We may think of purification to be something religious or sacred and not very relevant in our daily lives. However, purification empowers us internally. When [...]
Are we training our mind in distraction or in concentration?
We all have noticed times when we get distracted, sometimes from important things. If only we could concentrate more, we could do so many things [...]
When living in the present helps, and when it harms
“Live in the present” is valuable advice to counter our mind’s tendency to wander off into the past or the future. That wandering can rob [...]
How to get away from the mind when it troubles us?
When someone speaks negative things constantly, we may feel the need to get away from them. We may feel a similar need when our mind [...]
How we become both villains and victims …
Typical movies have two characters: one who acts in villainous ways and one who is victimized by those villainous actions. But suppose a movie featured [...]
Understanding the reflective self and the impulsive self
We often experience an inner tug of war between opposing voices. To better understand these forces, let’s consider the dynamics of our inner world, as [...]
How we end up neglecting life’s important things
When people face sudden disaster or death, they often realize that they have wasted so much of their life on unimportant things while neglecting important [...]
Why do small things irritate us so much?
We may notice that our mood often gets spoiled when some small things go wrong. Why do we get so irritated by small negatives? Because [...]
You are not a negative thinker, even if your mind is
“You are such a negative thinker.” We may receive this discouraging feedback if we tend to look at problems in a given situation. Such labels [...]
Tap the power of negative thinking
Yes, you read that right. We are discussing the power of negative thinking, not positive thinking. Every time a fire is prevented by an accessibly-placed [...]