Spiritriver's Blog

Inherent in the term "trying" to meditate is programming the brain to fail in the attempt.  The Dali Lama talks about having difficulty keeping his thoughts from interfering, so you're in the best of company.  "Trying" and relaxing don't mix, so stop trying.  Imagine the tide.  It makes a bit of noise, followed by a period of silence.  The mind chatters, but if permitted will allow for periods of silence as well.  Like the tide, silence comes in waves.  The mind can remain active during a successful meditation if the flow of thoughts are focused on peace and inner Presence.   No two people meditate the same way, or with the same effect.  No two meditations by the same individual are alike.  You are totally free to define your own style of meditation and allow it to evolve.   Some can spend hours in a meditative state.  Others engage in "mini-meditations," that last seconds or minutes.  The best way to deter...

Yup! Lotsa folks on FB. Some are delightful and others are like a plague. Consider though, that bad actors challenge the strength of our spiritual understanding and compassion. The challenge itself affords an opportunity to determine what we feel deeply about our spiritual perspective and how our understanding works for us.  If attacks are met with peaceful and compassionate responses consistently, usually one of two things happen: 1) The attacker gets bored or frustrated and fades away or 2) They become interested in how their victims maintain their peaceful and compassionate nature. At that point, the attacker could end up being a seeker of truth.  It's very common to view forgiveness as removal of judgment or letting someone "off the hook." Yes, that's a nice thing to do, but what does it actually accomplish? Often it encourages bad behavior, as the offender depends on such forgiveness for opportunities to get away with even more bad actions.  Some peop...