An essential attitude of Buddhist psychology is to recognize that at your very core, you are good and pure. This inherent worth, or Buddha nature, is present at birth and stays with you through life. The Buddhist concept of “original goodness” stands in sharp contrast to the Christian belief of…
Mindful Paradoxes
The Paradox of Mindfulness: Be the Change
When we tell ourselves “I’m an idiot”, we feel embarrassed and blush. The more convinced we’re not loved or appreciated, the more we feel sad and cry. The greater the anxiety felt, the harder it is to concentrate. Thoughts impact emotions, emotions impact physiology. Emotions are physiological events that affect…
The Paradox of Mindfulness: From Obstacle to Challenge
During times of loss or crisis, it’s not uncommon to interpret others’ attempts to help as insensitive, minimizing, dismissive, or even condescending. Too often, the very group you feel closest to are those you feel most estranged from. Ironically, when support and connection is most needed, it has never felt…
The Paradox of Mindfulness: Loving the Questions
Sometimes life places us at a juncture. Do you hold on to what you have, even when it doesn’t seem to help, or do you let go and move on? Large and small personal junctures occur and reoccur, and carry the potential to shift the course of your life. Being…
The Paradox of Mindfulness: All Things Shall Pass
Our conditioning promotes holding on and taking control to get what we want. This learned habit inclines us to move away from pain through avoiding, minimizing, denying and finding “short-term fixes.” Mindfulness teaches how to surrender to the unavoidable pain inherent in life by entering into it, working with it,…
The Paradox of Mindfulness: Moving Toward
Our conditioned nature is to grasp or cling onto what we want; avoid or be averse to what we don’t want; or be in delusion–blinded by ignorance with our head in the sand. “I want this,” “I don’t want this,” or “What I don’t know doesn’t hurt me.” These states compel us…
The Paradox of Mindfulness: Nowhere is Now Here
Over 2,500 years ago, Buddha looked at the nature of the mind and its relationship to suffering. He showed the path to freedom from suffering through the tool of meditation which informs the actions of skillful living. Buddha never presented himself as a celestial being or courier of divine power. When asked: “Are…
The Paradox of Mindfulness: Cycling the Wheel
At front and center stage of Buddhist psychology is mindfulness: moment-to-moment non-judgmental awareness. Mindfulness is to know and see things as they are arising and passing. It’s a way of being that invites you to be fully alive and awake to your own life as: “Life is available only in…