When I was 17. I had always been spiritually precocious. I’d grown up wanting to be a monk or priest in the Catholic Church. I was not raised catholic. I raised myself catholic. I was never baptized. Never confirmed. And I hated my catholic mother for it. Around 16 I began taking the RCIA (Rights […]

I have suffered from major depressive disorder and anxiety for 22 years, since I was 18 years old. For the most part, I have managed to keep it under control. They have their cycles where they rear their heads and ask for attention, then die down and I regain my life again. While they are […]

In our society it is common to go about life with full force and to sacrifice our own self care for others, our job, or our community. It is often considered selfish to do something that supports our own well being. Many of us go about our daily lives completely ignoring ourselves and are unconscious […]

Gods: we project them first in the boldest of sketches, which sullen Fate keeps crumpling and tossing away. But for all that, the gods are immortal. Surely we may hear out the one who, in the end, will hear us.  -Rainer Maria Rilke As I sit here in my overstuffed chair, I gaze across the […]

In Buddhism there is often mention of taking refuge in the Buddha. But what does this mean? In our every day, usual way of living, we are typically going for refuge, that is, seeking comfort and solace from the stresses of life, in things that don’t ultimately serve us. Things like internet addiction, alcohol, television, […]

It’s possible for us to establish a way of life that is conducive to being spiritual, mindful, and fully conscious in our daily lives. However, this requires practice and vigilance. There is never a point where we can sit back and say “A HA! I’ve made it!” Because as soon as we do, something will […]

Our minds are fickle things. They fly from one thing to another. Who knows from where the thoughts come or go. We oscillate from one role to the next. One moment we are an employee, the next we might be a mom, we don all these different masks and our minds go with us. Our […]

The violence that is common throughout our world is very evident, not just in our time, but throughout all of history. We are confronted with it constantly. Not a week goes by before there is more tragic news of a terrorist bombing or school shooting. In response, we collectively lash out in anger toward the […]

Spiritual teachings of various traditions speak of compassion and its cultivation being a necessary component of a fulfilled and happy life.  How is it that you can establish a way of living that will be conducive to being a mindful and compassionate human being in your ordinary, every day life? Firstly, you must have motivation […]

We live in a world that wears “busy” as a badge of honor.  Often when we ask friends how they are doing, their response is “Oh, work, work, work.” And that work is usually doing something they hate.  I am not trying to say that doing things is wrong and that we should just be […]

Attributes and actions such as greed, jealously, the need to impress, the sacrifice of one’s autonomy and spiritual independence, anger, hatred, and fear are all characteristics of the thirst for power. These tools are put into operation by those with power who wish to hold on to or usurp “control” from those who are meeker […]

Our minds are conditioned societally and egoically to exist in a constant state of discomfort, of yearning: states of dissatisfaction and seeming incompleteness. When separated from time, the mind lashes out, feeling anxious and as though it should be doing something, it must be forgetting something important. The ego wants us to always be existing […]

I have been trying to encapsulate into words my interpretation on the nature of reality. This of course, is ultimately beyond words and form and this is not completely meshed out, but this is the explanation I have so far. At the very essence of everything exists what I will call the ultimate ground of […]

A rampant situation in our world is that of ceasing to see another human being as an equal, as a fellow human  focusing on their differences rather than our similarities. In so doing, we see them as “other”. In our reality, we turn this person into an enemy. They practice a different religion, eat different food, see the […]

To discover your limitations is the same as to discover your limitlessness. To discover your shadow is the same as to discover your light. To discover your humaness is to discover your Buddhaness. To discover you’re finite is to discover you’re infinite. -Anam Thubten When we honestly ask ourselves the question, “Who am I?” We […]

In the Buddha’s first Noble Truth he taught that everything in the world is or can lead to suffering. The spiritual path and enlightenment are often misconstrued as making everything okay. That suffering will end. That all of the sudden, a ray of sunlight will come into our lives and ameliorate all that we ever […]

Many people have a misconception that the spiritual path is about nothing other than always feeling good, of only having “positive” experiences, of never allowing our anger to show. This is simply not the case. The spiritual path is about not identifying with that anger, sorrow, joy, or other form of suffering. These are emotions […]

One of the primary teachings in Buddhism is that our thoughts are integral in the generation of our realities. Our experienced reality is largely shaped by what we think and how we perceive the world. Each one of us sees things differently from the other and these different way of thinking are not intrinsically “good” […]

Mindfulness is an ancient idea that stems from India’s wisdom traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. It really began making its way to the West in the 60s. Its popularity has grown so voraciously that today it is an almost unavoidable concept. It can be see on magazine covers, books, TV, it is being taught in places such as schools, the […]

The subject of religion is taboo for many people to speak about, however, it utterly fascinates me. Religion is perhaps one of the most powerful and influential forces throughout history. It has taken us to the heights of our sublime and beautiful feats and to the depths of our most despicable and gruesome acts. In […]