How do both writing and meditation make us better attuned to ourselves and help us to recognize our own divinity?

What is stopping us from choosing to live happily right here and right now?

How do times spent reflecting help us to better understand our experiences? See what MIT researchers have shown in lab rats who replay memories after first learning a maze.

As we enter a new year, I would like to recommend we all take a new focus on what it means to live relaxed and centered. The holidays have ended, the economy continues to hurt, and many find themselves under hefty work schedules, but it is never a bad idea to take a step back to rejuvenate ourselves.

“It’s hard to always show compassion — even to the people we love, but Robert Thurman asks that we develop compassion for our enemies. He prescribes a seven-step meditation exercise to extend compassion beyond our inner circle.”

Interesting study about sensory deprivation and visual hallucinations published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.

“Shinzen talks about how the ten zen ox-herding pictures can be interpreted in two different ways. One shows the stages on the path of enlightenment and the other shows you the process of truly grasping what consciousness is.”

Mindfulness has been shown to enhance awareness and as well as induce well-being and emotional balance. Scientists now examine how meditation influences the brain.

Always watch desire when you can. Dissect it like a scientist. Break it up into parts. Watch how it changes. Watch how it affects both the body and mind.

Each and every moment is the beginning to something we cannot fathom or even begin to understand? It is the future of our life. Where will it take us and how can we become better at directing it through mindfulness?