Being Mindful
I replied to this on Quora, and thought it might make a good addition to this blog (the drawing to the right has nothing to do with it … it’s just something I… Continue reading
Tag Archive: calm
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The Trap of Wondrous Meditation Experiences
“Hi Roger … I notice in your book you deal with the presence of pain and anxiety and the lack of calm that most of us experience in meditation, but you don’t describe… Continue reading
Be Here Now
Recently someone emailed me the following question: Hi Roger, I’ve got this friend who drives me nuts because every time I do something stupid, he pipes up with this cliché, ‘be here now’,… Continue reading
The Main Game
A while back, while sitting in a café having a coffee, I overheard a group of people arguing about meditation. It seemed as if they’d been to some kind of meditation retreat, and… Continue reading
Meditating Without Faith is Like Breathing Without Air
It occurred to me today, that one thing I’ve neglected to write about on this blog is perhaps, one of the most important requirements of efficient meditation. And that is the notion of… Continue reading
Why Does Meditating Make Me Anxious?
Got this question in an email from Marc. “Hi Roger … I recently started meditating and frankly, I find it makes me even more anxious than I usually am. But I persevered, and… Continue reading
Can Positive Thinking Work as Powerfully as Meditation?
This was another Quora question, which prompted my following reply. There’s a problem with positive thinking – and that is, your mind is not an idiot. It knows all of you, both positive… Continue reading
Excitement from Meditation?
Got this question from someone on Quora, and I thought it might make an interesting post. They asked: ‘How do I get an exciting experience from meditation?’ And my reply?Put simply, you don’t.… Continue reading
The Unthinkingness of Not Thinking
Got this interesting question on Quora: “If during meditation you reach a point of no thoughts, then how do you recognize that state without thinking?” You know it. You see, what we call… Continue reading
Clinging
Clinging creates tension because it flies in the face of change. When we cling, we presuppose its possible for things to always stay the same. We want things to stay the same –… Continue reading
Happiness Schmappiness
Got this question from Barry – he says: “Roger, I’ve been meditating for weeks now and I’m still unhappy. I’ve been unhappy all my life, and I’m losing hope that it will ever… Continue reading
Checking In
‘Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?‘ – David M. Bader One thing that makes meditation easier is if you blend the practice into your day. And, aside from… Continue reading
Routine
‘The big things that come our way are the fruit of seeds planted in the daily routine of our work.’– William Feather One of the biggest problems people have with meditation is it… Continue reading
Practicing Mindfulness
‘Mindfulness isn’t difficult. We just need to remember to do it.’ – Sharon Salzberg Mindfulness gets a lot of media attention these days. Everybody’s talking about it, books have been written about it,… Continue reading
Going On Silent Retreat
If you’re as fascinated with meditation as I am, at some point you’re going to want to do it more intensively – to go into silent retreat and meditate for some days or… Continue reading
The Skill of Being Still
As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve not been posting over the last year, largely because I’ve been preoccupied with other things – but also because the answers to most of the questions I’m getting… Continue reading
Dealing with Dukkha
This post came is response to a question that came in from one of my other posts, ‘Why Does Meditation Make Me Angry’– which, without fail, is, along with another similar post, ‘Why… Continue reading
Meditation Needs Love
When I first began meditating I had terrible difficulty with it, and almost gave up at one point, because I felt as if I just didn’t have what it took. It wasn’t… Continue reading
Sensations and Suffering
A wonderful, and quite forensic breakdown of the how sensations become suffering., and the role our conditioned reactions play in that transition. Essential viewing if you’re as fascinated by the processes within Vipassana meditation.… Continue reading
Get Some Sleep!
“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.” … Continue reading
The Brain Changes Itself
Meditation is not a panacea or any kind of quick fix. Nor is it simply a relaxation exercise, as it’s often marketed. When we meditate, we’re training the mind to be more efficient.… Continue reading
Don’t Fight to Meditate.
Hi Roger .. I’ve been learning to meditate and I’ve been to a number of teachers who keep instructing me to concentrate on the breath. It is supposed to relax me and make… Continue reading
Cleaning Up The World from the Inside
“….Pollution! Look at this rubbish!” he said vehemently, “Bloody vandals! Chucking their garbage about!…” I had been wandering along a path, savoring the clear afternoon stillness of a popular national park near Melbourne,… Continue reading