Tag Archive: thinking

Coping With Insomnia

The following question about insomnia came through the other day, and I wondered why I’ve never addressed it before. So here it is: ‘Hi Roger … I’ve suffered from insomnia for the last… Continue reading

The Monk and The Bell.

Back in the 90’s, when I was researching stuff during the writing of my first book on meditation, ‘Happy to Burn’, I happened to find a fascinating article, (long since lost) which clarified… Continue reading

Spiritual Or Delusion?

This question came thru today, and it’s an interesting one. ‘Roger, why is your view of meditation so unspiritual? As far as I know, meditation has always been a spiritual practice, yet you… Continue reading

‘It’s Sensations, Stupid!’

Got this question: “Roger, I keep losing myself in daydreams while meditating. I get so lost sometimes I even forget I exist, and the more I try to focus, the more intense the… 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

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

Meditating From the Source

A while ago I was doing an online session with a meditator, and we were talking generally about what it is to practice meditation, and how difficult it can be to maintain a… 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

The Breath, Only the Breath.

In my audio course, and in some of the posts I’ve written for this blog, I’ve spoken at various times about emotions and pain during meditation, and described methods for dealing with these… Continue reading

Alan Watts – The Mind and Worrying

I’ve always found Alan Watts inspiring to listen to. When he speaks it sets off little explosions of insight in my head that feed my practice. In this video, he’s speaking about worry,… Continue reading

Love Your Pain!!

Most people, as they go through the process of learning how to meditate, pass through a number of stages, some pleasant, some unpleasant. And my view is, no matter whether pleasure or pain,… Continue reading

The World of Worry

In the mid nineteenth century, the word ‘worry’ referred solely to the act of physical harassment, whether of animals or humans – for example, ‘the dog worried at the sheep to herd them… Continue reading

Making Friends with the Bird

Hi Roger, I have gotten a lot out of your audio course, especially the exercises which I use most days, and I’ve had many peaceful moments meditating. And this is what provokes my… Continue reading

Neuroplasticity and Meditation

Neuroplasticity is a subject very pertinent to meditation – particularly meditation as consistent practice. Because rest assured, for all the difficulties you might experience as you meditate, and no matter how hopeless you… Continue reading

The Perils of Positive Thinking.

Let’s get it out in the open at the outset. Positive thinking, either as affirmations or visualizations, doesn’t work. In fact, it’s been seen that these strategies actually have the opposite effect for… Continue reading

Our Forgotten Friend

“It is slavery to live in the mind unless it has become part of the body.” -Kahlil Gibran One time, in one of the temples where I was doing Vipassana training in Thailand,… Continue reading

Becoming Mindful

  “Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep. They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep… Continue reading

Feeling Before Thinking – Always

As much as I’ve covered this subject in numerous posts, people still consider compulsive thinking to be the main obstacle when they meditate. And its completely understandable. After all, in a culture such… Continue reading

Make Friends With Yourself

So, let’s go back to basics. Meditation is not a big deal. All we’re doing is learning to sit still, and be still, mentally and physically, without it making us anxious. We’re teaching ourselves to… Continue reading

Meditation is More than Calm

  Interesting question came in during the week. “I started meditating recently. Today was my fourth time actually, about 20 minutes long. I was fine afterwards, calm, like I had been the 3… Continue reading

Feeling Comes Before Thinking

As much as I have covered this subject in numerous posts, I keep hearing meditators complain about thinking. ‘I cant stop thinking,’ seems to be the main complaint, and obstacle in almost everybody’s… Continue reading