My new book: Making Sense of Meditation
Well, it’s been a long time since my last post on this blog, reason being, I’ve been writing two books – the first volume of a memoir, titled ‘This Perfect Life: Building a… Continue reading
Tag Archive: awareness
6 Comments
Will Meditation Heal Me?
Question: I suffer from chronic fatigue, and meditation has been recommended, as was your blog. I went through your posts and though it was very interesting, I didn’t find anything specifically dealing with… Continue reading
To Succeed, Learn to Fail
Most people, when they decide to try meditation, assume it’ll be easy. And the books and spruikers and ads for meditation and mindfulness classes certainly make meditation seem easy. After all, how hard… Continue reading
Changing the Nature of Thinking
Question: I go to a Zen teacher here in Seattle. He tells us that we should observe our thoughts during meditation? I’m not sure what this means. How can I observe my thoughts… Continue reading
Building Awareness To Change Habits
Everything we are, and everything we do, arises from a habit.All our skills and abilities, our cravings and addictions, whether good or bad, as well as our physical form, our emotional profile and… Continue reading
The Path To Enlightenment
In bumbling through YouTube last night, I happened upon an extraordinary video. I say ‘extraordinary’ because the information it conveys is so unusually lucid – particularly given the subject of the video is… Continue reading
How Do I ‘Watch My Thoughts’?
Hi Roger, I’m hoping you can help me with a confusing thing that happens when I meditate. I go to a local meditation group and the teacher told us to watch our thoughts… Continue reading
The Meditation Audio Course is Back
A few years ago, (well, almost a decade ago – golly how time flies), after I closed Practical Meditation & Counselling and began travelling (again), I recorded the entire course as a series… Continue reading
Knowing Yourself
Throughout a life, we accumulate habits. Some work for us, other’s don’t. And the key to a good life is being able to nurture those habits that work for us, and weed out… Continue reading
Letting Go of The Struggle
The question: Hi Roger. I’ve been meditating most days for a while now and it feels like I’m in a losing battle with my mind. No matter how hard I try my attention… Continue reading
Just Do It
One day, I received an email from a woman asking if we could meet. She said she was eager to discuss Buddhist lore and exchange ideas. And it became clear in subsequent emails,… Continue reading
Am I Enlightened?
A few days ago I got this rather curt question from one of my readers: ‘Roger, I read your posts with great interest and I’m thinking of buying your book. I have a… Continue reading
Experience The Experience
‘Experience the experience’ was the epitaph my father wanted engraved on his headstone when he died. And indeed, it was the creed he tried to live by. He was constantly pushing himself to… Continue reading
Commitment Gives Life To Our Dreams
I was watching a movie the other night and something was said that annoyed me. A woman was complaining to a friend about her husband and how their marriage had become stale. To… Continue reading
The New Science of Death
Recently, a couple of very good friends have died. And being months away from my seventieth year and sensing the approaching end of my own life, I have been contemplating the nature of… Continue reading
Releasing The Breath
I recently spoke with a friend who had just begun meditating – she was having difficulty with using her breath as a main object. She said as soon as she turned her attention… Continue reading
Our Attention Creates Our Reality
I think there is a core principle in meditation, and in life, and it’s this: Our attention energises whatever we attach it to. Whether it’s a thought, an idea, a feeling or emotion,… Continue reading
Embracing Anatta: The Wonderful Reality of Non-Self
I got an email the other day, with A very concise question:‘Hi Roger, what do you think of the Buddhist idea of non-self?’ So it occurred to me that, even though I’ve posted… Continue reading
The Way to Stillness
Question: Roger, I read your book and I get what you’re saying about how meditation isn’t all fairy dust and bliss, and how we’ve got to build a mental and physical skillset to… Continue reading
Thich Nhat Hanh: Know How to Suffer to Suffer Less
A friend referred me to the following video by one of the great contemporary meditation masters, Thich Nhat Hanh, in which he talks about how essential it is to learn how to suffer.… Continue reading
Perfect World Syndrome
A long time ago, I had a client who was constantly angry. She was quite wealthy, lived in a big house, drove a Porsche and had a family who loved her – but… Continue reading
Routine is Everything
So let’s get back to basics.Essentially, meditation is no big deal. The problem is, people keep making it into a big deal – investing all kinds of significance into a skill which, ironically,… Continue reading
Using Mindfulness to Deal With Anguish
Question:Roger, I suffer from chronic depression. I’m not sure what triggers it – it can happen anywhere. All I know is it usually happens when I’m among crowds of people. When it happens… Continue reading