We need guidance from wise teachings to calm our deeply troubled minds. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh provides this (2005; 2002b): Calming down, becoming serene is the first step of...
I will never give money to a beggar.” Sound familiar? Those are words I have lived by for years. I will buy food, medication, pay for a...
Compassion leaves the most visible and ineradicable scars on the hearts of those that remove the covers from their eyes. In almost every country, travellers go around with blinders on. The norm...
The eternal flame of spirit dances within every one of us. But sometimes we forget. The demands and stresses that come with living in the 21st century can keep us ...
“Oh, [you don’t know] the shape I’m in…”—Levon Helm This form our spirits inhabit, this ever-changing body/mind we occupy on Earth from...
The tourist—let’s call him “Guy”—was irate because he wasn’t being understood. The Bangkok Underground guard was irate because he couldn’t...
A compassion-based meditation program can significantly improve a person’s ability to read the facial expressions of others, finds a study...
How do we writers feel when something we thought was perfect is changed—even slightly—or commented on, or sometimes deleted? Do...
Young poplar trees scatter the sunlight into patches of shade in the courtyard of the Main Temple in Dharamsala, India—home...
My conversations with friends and relatives across the economic and ideological spectrum keep coming back to what we fear. I...
Empaths are highly sensitive, finely tuned instruments when it comes to emotions. They feel everything, sometimes to an extreme, and...
Tibetan sand mandalas are an ancient art form of Tibetan Buddhism. Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning “cosmogram” or “world...
The world is suffering from a severe lack of compassion. Though this isn’t a new phenomenon, it’s one I’ve noticed...
The root of compassion lies in realizing the interconnected nature of all beings on Earth. Cognitively-based Compassion Training (CBCT), a...
I am walking down a long road. The road is windy, sometimes narrow, and sometimes rocky. I am surrounded by...
Excerpted from How to Survive Life (and Death): A Guide for Happiness in This World and Beyond . Love is the current...
We’ve all of us been incensed by a news story, cultural trend or incident on the public bus that’s led...
A number of years ago, I was walking down the street in Manhattan when I happened to pass a pricey...
What would our lives be like if we wore a crown of petals instead of a crown of thorns? What...
Choice is a cornerstone of American society. The songs my classmates and I learned in grade school heralded freedom of...
LOVE IS AN ISLAND: 'Entire of itself', open to all
It is a human condition to feel we have to do something in order to deserve good things. That is what inhabiting the apex of the current evolutionary totem pole does for us,
“Carry out a random act of kindness with no expectation of reward safe in the knowledge that one day someone...
A couple of years ago, I attended an event in NYC by amma.org, a non-profit whose spiritual leader is known as...
“Compassion is a verb.” – Thich Nhat Hanh I teach writing. My community college students cannot escape my class—or at...
