Zen Moments

“You watch it all, until the last sliver of golden light vanishes…”

Having taught meditation for many years, I’ve found that one of the most common questions I get asked is: “How do I get started?”
People often begin with a book and try to teach themselves. But in the beginning you don’t really know what you [...]

“Everything comes down to you and one moment and one action…”

From www.soulbiographies.com featuring Morgan Fisher
(duration 8 minutes. try full screen. scaling on or off. use headphones)
There is something so simple yet so profound that it’s quite possible we find ourselves missing it completely. Morgan spent many successful and raucous years playing in major [...]

“Suddenly I was face to face with a swinging club…”

For some years I taught Art to teenagers who had been excluded from school. You have to be so careful with kids like these. Especially when they first arrive. They’re often hostile – brittle, ready to fly off the handle at the least imagined slight. The [...]

“Just me and the water and the deepest blue sky above…”

It was the first time I had gone swimming. I wasn’t scared of the water but there was apprehension about going under and not getting my breath. So when my friend who was helping me learn to float told me to dunk my head in [...]

“I began to notice that each moment was not without its beauty…”

An exerpt from “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron
“…Writing about attention, I see that I have written a good deal about pain. This is no coincidence. It may be different for others, but pain is what it took to teach me to pay attention. [...]

“I used to be pushing and pushing to get ahead… but now I am like the Zen Warrior… It’s a completely calm existence…”

This short 7 minute video by Bill Beaty shows how he has learned to drive in dense traffic, leaving a long gap between himself and the car in front.
This reduces the need [...]

“There comes a time in your life when you finally get it… “

There comes a time in your life when you finally get it… When in the midst of all your fears and insanity you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out- ENOUGH! Enough fighting and crying or [...]

“Nothing happens next. This is it.”

The Grass-is-Greener Syndrome:
Challenges to Being Present
Have you ever had an experience like this: you might be walking on a beautiful wooded trail, or watching a sunset over water, or relaxing with good friends at the end of a day’s work; you are doing something at least mildly enjoyable or pleasant, [...]

“In making our minds up, we set them up to be broken down.
We create the conditions for doubt by trying to create certainty.”

Once upon a time I knew what I wanted out of life. I knew where I was going. I was going to be a Great Inventor.
And I revelled in that sense of confidence [...]

With a worried look on her face she asked me:
“What did I do wrong?”

This is something I wrote for a lady in Sri Lanka who decided she wanted to develop her meditation practice in daily life. She resolved to bring more mindfulness into ordinary day-to-day activities. So she set out to go shopping mindfully.
She [...]