What’s in the Water?
Guidance for Swimming Against the Stream
In waking up to whiteness, there are questions to answer and ideas to confront. Molly’s insights bring perspective and clarity.
Contentment is the foundation for deep engagement
Contentment is connection with inherent wellbeing, resilience, and resourcefulness. Far from being a passive retreat from the problems of the world, it is the foundation for deep engagement.
Resilience is part of your nature
Resilience is part of your nature, and the more deeply you see that, the more easily you will access that resilience. In a recent episode of The Daily Show, Senator Cory Booker contrasted going through life as a thermometer or a thermostat. The thermometer is at the...
There’s genius lurking underneath your thoughts about how you are doing
The synopsis: There are times in life when we’re doing just fine, even spectacularly, but for our confused thinking about how we are doing. Rather than trying to do better, we can drop our story about how we’re doing and discover the natural genius that’s already at...
What if you don’t have to worry about suffering?
Jenny Offill makes this observation about suffering in Tricycle Magazine, "The Buddhists say there are 121 states of consciousness. Of these, only three involve misery or suffering. Most of us spend our time moving back and forth between these three." What's up with...
Decision-making mojo: quiet mind and open heart
When we try to impose high-mindedness on our decisions, we may inadvertently find ourselves invested in being right and in getting "good" results. When we make decisions instead from a quiet place, we tend to be less invested in being right. We decide with humility...
Intensity and Legitimacy Are Not the Same: How Not to Be Hornswoggled by Strong Feelings
In the course of our lives we experience all manner of ups and downs. Sometimes strong feelings result, and we have a natural tendency to be compelled by them. The more intense the feeling, the more compelling it seems. But there is no necessary correlation between...
The transformative power of settling down
"Settle down" are two of the most powerful words in the English language. Here's why.
Feeling feelings versus thinking about feelings
We have a very different experience of life when we simply feel our feelings as opposed to when we worry about our feelings. The direct experience of sadness, for example, can be a doorway to compassion, whereas worrying about sadness leads to depression.
Two Kinds of Not Knowing: Confusion and Wonder
The ability to simply not know is key to having new thought. I first learned of not knowing from Charlie Badenhop of Seishindo. From him I learned of the importance of engaging with not knowing with an open mind, heart, and body. To not know in this way invites...