Letting your light shine
So many of us shy away from being fully ourselves in the world. Maybe it’s fear, or feeling it’s inappropriate, but we often keep our gifts hidden in our private shells. Well, here’s a great counterexample of someone who just put himself out there, and what a response he got!
A friend sent me a link to this video this morning, and I was so impressed that I just had to share it with everyone. This is a flight attendant on Southwest Airlines doing that normal spiel at the start of every flight. You know – the one about seat belts and emergency exits that we all ignore.
Leaping into new territory … fearlessly
Fear is a universal human experience. Fearlessness is a something we can cultivate through mindfulness. Here’s what it looks like for one man, as he takes on perhaps the biggest challenge of his life — as the Music Director of a major American symphony orchestra.
As armchair observers, we all read about people who take on big challenges and succeed in a big way. We envy their courage and fearlessness. But at the same time many of us can’t imagine doing that ourselves. After all, it’s scary as hell to risk leaping into new and unknown territory. What if we fail? And so we sit back in our armchairs.
Getting past boredom in meditation
Does meditation leave you feeling bored and restless? Maybe you took it up so you could find a refreshing oasis in the midst of a too-stressful life — but it’s just not doing much for you. In my monthly post in Wildmind’s blog, I offer my perspectives on how to work through this all-too-common situation.
The Buddha and social change
How might the Buddha respond to questions of social change? How do we bring about large-scale happiness to entire societies? I recently heard this thought-provoking interview on National Public Radio’s show Speaking of Faith, called “The Buddha in the World.” It’s an interview with Pankaj Mishra, a journalist and author of the book The End of Suffering: The Buddha in the World.
Are people mere vending machines?
The vast majority of the people with whom we interact on a daily basis are people we don’t know. This sobering little experiment shown on YouTube shows that most of us view each other in as personal a manner as we do mere machines! It makes me think about acting more kindly to all those people I encounter everyday.
Love, sex, and non-attachment
Is it possible to be in a committed sexual relationship and follow the Buddha’s teaching on non-attachment? Does loving someone deeply by definition mean we’re attached to them? I don’t see these ideas as contradictory. Here in Wildmind’s blog, I explore what an enlightened relationship might look like.