We don’t always have to like someone for us to have love for them. Sure – it may not be “friendship” love or “family” love or “romantic” love. However, we can have “compassionate” love for anyone, despite any differences or shortcomings that person may have. Compassion is our ability to understand and sympathize with the [...]

Introduction Mindfulness is a state of deliberate and conscious awareness directed toward the present moment. The practice is incredibly simple on paper, but with diligent practice can reap many, many benefits. A great entry level exercise to mindfulness is the 100 Breaths Meditation. It teaches you how to use your breathing as an object of [...]

Universal Compassion I have a challenge for you – but first I want to write a little about universal compassion. Many religions and philosophies hold “universal compassion” as a moral value that we should try to practice in our everyday life. It is best defined as a desire to alleviate the suffering of others, and [...]

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits recently wrote an interesting piece called, “The Illusion of Control.” In it he describes how our efforts to control our lives and our surroundings are fundamentally flawed and worthless. We cannot control things, Leo argues, because our world is too complex, and the future is ultimately unknown. I partially agree, [...]

Allowing ourselves to occasionally indulge in pleasures without feeling guilty can be a healthy practice in the long-run.