Meditation Isn’t About Arriving Somewhere; You’re Already There!

A colloquialism favored in the state of Maine is that you can't get there from here, or - spoken as a Mainer  "you can't get they-ah from he-ah." But, why talk about Maine when the topics of this blog are mindfulness, awareness and compassion at the bedside? (with bits of the mundane daily stuff tossed in for grins) The "from here" that we work with when beginning meditation is our ordinary - some might say deluded - mind. And, the "there" that we're working to achieve to some degree is a state free from delusions, free from distractions. The premise of [...]

2011-09-06T17:45:45-06:00By |Meditation|0 Comments
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How to Overcome Distraction While Practicing Compassionate Meditation

Recently, while doing a meditation practice based on compassion, I found - much to my dismay - that my focus was anywhere but on my practice. What made it even worse (and even embarrassing) was that I was doing the practice for a friend of mine who had experienced a significant medical emergency. In a previous post in this site, Forget About Yourself, Meditate for the Sake of Others!, we discussed using our meditation as an opportunity to meditate for the benefit of others. But, what about when we are meditating for the benefit of others and can't even bring [...]

2014-08-25T17:46:09-06:00By |Compassion, Meditation|4 Comments
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How to Work with the Four Distractions to Meditation – New ebook!

(The following post in from the Introduction to my new ebook, How to Work with the Four Distractions to Meditation. Please feel free to go directly to the link to download the ebook, or read the intro first to see if its contents are of interest to you. Take care.) I think that it’s fair to say that many people experience difficulties and challenges when first starting to meditate, especially if the technique or method that is being used is based on observing and working with thoughts, feelings and/or sensations. As meditation practitioners, we need to know that there’s nothing [...]

2014-07-03T12:26:56-06:00By |Meditation|1 Comment
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Meditating On…My Birthday!

Today is my birthday. I'll be celebrating by taking a day off from the blog and book-work. I'll be out in nature, meditating and relaxing. But, I just wanted to offer you this wonderful gem from Sogyal Rinpoche's Glimpse of the Day. Enjoy!   August 23 If you find that meditation does not come easily in your city room, be inventive and go out into nature. Nature is always an unfailing fountain of inspiration. To calm your mind, go for a walk at dawn in the park, or watch the dew on a rose in a garden. Lie on the [...]

2011-08-22T22:41:11-06:00By |Meditation|0 Comments
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Don’t Do Doubt! Four Steps to Work with Doubt When Meditating

Recently I participated in a bicycle ride, the Colorado Triple Bypass, which is a 120-mile ride with 10,000 feet of elevation gain, over three mountain-passes…all in one day! I've already posted on some of the experiences that I had in working with my mind while preparing for this endeavor. One challenge I didn’t share was my experience of doubt while training. When encountering my doubt, I came to realize that it was such a great lesson for me that it may be of some use to readers of this blog. There are many reasons that people meditate. Some meditate to [...]

2011-08-05T01:02:35-06:00By |Meditation, Mindfulness|2 Comments
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Returning to the Aha! of the Meditative Moment

Remember those "aha" moments you've had in the past? Maybe they've been moments of clarity about something that you said in a discussion, or perhaps you were struggling to make a decision about your career and a different, unique and creative idea sprang into your mind. While many of my formal meditation moments may be focused on working with remaining in the present moment and resting, as best as I can, in a state of non-distraction, without altering my mind, there are times when I'm suddenly presented with an idea worth noting or taking down for use later on, after [...]

2012-12-06T21:26:34-07:00By |Meditation|0 Comments
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Forget About Yourself, Meditate for the Sake of Others!

While there are many reasons to practice meditation, one of the main reasons that I have found to practice meditation is to be less distracted and more present, to be more aware of what is going on within my mind and to be more aware of those around me. With an increased awareness of what goes on in my environment, there's also the potential to become more aware of what is happening to those around me and to attend to those who need my help or assistance. This "compassionate impulse" is a benefit that is not always found in discussions [...]

2014-08-25T17:47:42-06:00By |Compassion, Meditation|2 Comments
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Meditating on Mountains of Suffering

Integrating Meditation Into Physical Challenges Maybe I've been spending too much time on the cushion lately. Or, maybe I've been working too hard on integrating meditation into my family life and into the process of writing and publishing my book. Whatever the reasons, I recently experienced an entirely new level of challenge in working with my mind while training for the Colorado Triple Bypass (a bike ride, not a surgery!). The Triple Bypass is a popular, "lung busting" 120-mile bicycle ride over three mountain passes, climbing a total of 10,000 feet of elevation, in a day's ride. How I got [...]

2014-01-13T13:45:48-07:00By |Meditation|3 Comments
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Part Four – Challenges (and Solutions) With Learning to Meditate

Challenge Number Four: Sleepiness! Oh my gosh, do I need to sleep! Why am I so sleepy? Was I meditating or sleeping? I don't know how many times I've said any or all of these things to myself while trying to meditate. I've started my session doing everything that I needed to; gotten myself a glass of water, made sure that the phone was out of reach, opened up some space in my calendar. Perfect! I sit down to start practicing, and the next thing I know, instead of realizing some great depth of my mind, I’m nodding off…or even [...]

2011-06-24T15:45:03-06:00By |Meditation|1 Comment
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