The Noble Eightfold Path | Mindfulness — The ultimate truth — God, Nature, Love, Awareness, or whatever you wanna call it — is directly available, patiently waiting to be witnessed and embodied. If you want to find it, turn inward and realize it within yourself. Know directly the truth of your own experience. This is a truth…

The Noble Eightfold Path | Training the Mind — What will you do with this precious gift of life? Whatever it is, you will need effort to do it. Effort is the source of all achievement. It fulfills our aspirations, breathes life into our values, and turns our intentions into lived expressions of our being. “Let only my skin…

Be Who Your Dog Believes You to Be — I just finished a retreat with the marvelous and playful human Loch Kelly, who teaches mindfulness in such a unique, simple, and accessible way. His short “glimpse practices” allow you to quickly shift out of your small ego-center and into the already fully awake, alive, spacious, connected, and compassionate awareness…

The Noble Eightfold Path | Skillful Actions, Part 2 — Last episode we began discussing how our actions fit into the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. And because our time was limited, we were able to cover only the first of four precepts — abstaining from causing physical harm. Today, then, we will pick up where we left off and discuss…

The Noble Eightfold Path | Skillful Actions — “Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” — Thomas Jefferson Today, we are going to start exploring our actions in the world, as they relate to the Buddha’s Eightfold Path. Together with our speech and livelihoods, our actions compose the…

The Noble Eightfold Path | Exercises in Speech — In the last episode, we began our training in virtue — the second of three training arenas along the Noble Eightfold Path. First, I noted that in this arena of training we will work on choreographing our thoughts and understanding onto the world stage, using the only mediums we have…

The Noble Eightfold Path | Training in Virtue — Over the last few weeks, we’ve been exploring the Buddha’s Eightfold Path, which can be divided into three arenas of training — training in wisdom, virtue, and cognition. In the last episode, we finished our training in wisdom, which is composed of 1) exercises in thought or intention and 2)…

The Noble Eightfold Path | Thoughts of Compassion — Over the last several weeks, we’ve been exploring the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. More particularly, in the last few episodes we’ve been exploring one arena of training along this path, training in thought. In the last episode, I suggested that when you apply your understanding of the Four Noble Truths…

The Noble Eight Fold Path | Thoughts of Kindness — Over the last several weeks, we’ve been exploring the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. And in the last episode, we explored more fully one arena of our training along this path, training in thought. More specifically, we explored thoughts of renunciation. Today, we will continue in this direction but, instead of…