Reading Archive (Mindfulness)

Developing Mindsight

Dan Siegel

Oftentimes people hear the word mindfulness and think “religion,” but the reality is that focusing our attention in this way is a biological process that promotes health – as a form ...

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93K reads, 14 comments

Presence: The Quality of Consciously Being Here

Kabir Helminski

A common theme runs through all the great spiritual traditions. It goes by many names – awakening, recollection, mindfulness, dhyana, remembrance, zhikr, presence – and by no name at all. ...

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29K reads, 4 comments

Lessening the Power of Negative Emotions

The Dalai Lama

I profoundly believe that real spiritual change comes about not by merely praying or wishing that all negative aspects of our minds disappear and all positive aspects blossom. It is only by our concer...

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27K reads, 10 comments

Stay With The Breath

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Put aside your old ways of using your eyes and ears and nose, tongue, body, and mind to focus on issues outside there in the world, to get your knowledge about the world, to figure out how to gain wha...

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26K reads, 14 comments

Don't Side With Yourself

Joseph Goldstein

Through mindfulness, our hearts become spacious enough to hold the painful emotions, to feel the suffering of them, and to let them go. But it takes practice—and perhaps several different practi...

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23K reads, 11 comments

Renaissance

Thich Nhat Hanh

This morning, at sunrise, a new bud appeared on the tree.  It was born around midnight.  The bark, the skin of the tree, split open under the incessant movement of its sap to make room for a...

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15K reads, 10 comments

Inclining Toward Freedom, Even Through Imperfections

Larry Yang

If we focus only on awakening, we miss most of the spiritual practice. I’m much more interested in how we practice with not awakening, with not being enlightened, because, frankly, those states ...

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14K reads, 5 comments

Wholeheartedness

Brother David

The end -- in all of the monastic traditions, of both East and West -- consists in cultivating mindfulness, being mindful. And "mindful" may be a little misleading, because it sounds a bit much like ...

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11K reads, 6 comments

The Grain of the Wood

Thanissaro Bhikku

There are two sides to the path of practice: the side of developing and the side of letting go. And it's important that you see the practice in both perspectives, that your practice contains both side...

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9K reads, 3 comments

Natural Unfolding

Gil Fronsdal

I believe that spiritual practice unfolds most smoothly when we find how to accord ourselves with nature. A useful metaphor for this is river. The river metaphor is expressive of a practice of accordi...

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8K reads

On Meditation

Thich Nhat Hanh

"During meditation, various feelings and thoughts may arise. If you don't practice mindfulness of breath, these thoughts will soon lure you away from mindfulness. But the breath isn't simply a m...

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7K reads

The Blooming of the Offering Within You

Thich Nhat Hanh

A poem is a flower you offer to people. A compassionate look, a smile, an act filled with loving-kindness is also a flower that blooms on the tree of mindfulness and concentration. Even thought you do...

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6K reads, 3 comments

The Attention That Arises From Caring

Andrew Cohen

Bare mindfulness, or attention from moment to moment, is a good technique as far as it goes, but I don’t feel it’s enough, unless you, whoever you are, care about your own effect in this world and...

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5K reads

Wherever You Go, There You Are

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindfulness is considered the heart of meditation but its essence is universal and of deep practical benefit to all. In essence, mindfulness is about wakefulness. Our minds are such that we are ...

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4K reads