There is a famous saying which goes “be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Sometimes, this is easier said than done. In a society that promotes conformism, it can sometimes be difficult to break out of the mold to be your authentic self. Unfortunately, not living authentically has its own downsides; the more you fight
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Everyone feels “lost” every now and again: out of touch with themselves and others, and feeling rudderless in the world. Often, this feeling is the result of a strenuous workload, a personal loss, or life change, but sometimes it’s for no particular reason that you can identify. For those times when you feel this
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There are about 1 million and one “must read books” out there. Which makes the task of finding a good book to read exhausting. It’s easy to get lost an Amazon or a bookstore when you’re looking for that one book that suits your mood, because moods are fleeting and can change from day to day,
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“Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream…” These words were sung more than 50 years ago, by the most popular music group of all time: the Beatles. At the time, they were largely singing to the youth-in-revolt, the hippies and activists of the 1960s who rejected mainstream consumer culture, and opted instead to start
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One of the central concepts of Buddhist philosophy is the notion of attachment, or clinging. Upadana is a word from ancient Pali and Sanskrit, which is usually translated as attachment, grasping, or clinging – but it’s literal meaning is “fuel.” This relates to the metaphor of the mind as being like a fire: burning, consuming,
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The ultimate goal of all spiritual practice is to transcend the ego, and awaken to your true Self. Throughout human history, many masters and teachers have developed many different ways and methods of approaching the problem – but there is none more direct than self-inquiry. Other methods often involve fixing the attention on the breath,
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Suffering is one of the undeniable facts of life that motivate our spiritual practice. It was coming face-to-face with aging, illness and death, that inspired the Buddha to leave his palace and his family behind, and set out on the path of awakening. In a sense, the story of Siddhartha Gautama is a metaphor for
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Did you know that the English word “spirit,” has it’s roots in the Latin word spiritus – which means “breath”? We find a similar connection between breath and Spirit in many other languages. The Hebrew word ruach means “spirit, wind, breath, and/or mind.” The Greek pneuma, as well, means “air, breath, soul, vital force.” The
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One of the central aims of Buddhist meditation is to cultivate compassion, or loving-kindness – and metta meditation is designed to do just that. Metta is a word from ancient Pali (the language of the earliest Buddhist scriptures) which does not translate easily into English. It is a term which conveys warmth, friendliness, non-violence, benevolence,
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Forgiveness is one of the most powerful tools we have for healing and personal transformation. Jesus, Buddha and Lao Tzu all taught that forgiveness is essential to knowing inner peace and spiritual wholeness. Now doctors and researchers realize that forgiveness is essential to our health – mental, emotional and physical. Anger and resentment suppress the
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