It's one thing to accept that the atoms that form our bodies are recycled, but what about consciousness? Here is my own view of these questions, which departs somewhat from Buddhist orthodoxy.

In this 12-minute video, I share ideas about how you can boost your practice by ritualizing everyday tasks like washing dishes, driving your car, or eating a meal. Mindfulness rituals are a great way to experience how mindfulness can literally change your life.

There is nothing about mindfulness that is inherently antithetical to the tenets of Christian faith. If anything, mindfulness practice opens us to a deeper appreciation of the mystery of life. But for some Christians, that in itself may pose a problem.

There is no inherent contradiction between maintaining strong spiritual roots and keeping up with the fast pace of technological change — as long as your roots are genuinely spiritual, and not merely ideological, ethnic, religious, cultural, or tribal.

In 2022, Jungian analyst and author Gary Trosclair interviewed me for his website, The Healthy Compulsive Project, which serves the OCPD community. Many of the ideas we explored in this interview are useful for meditators of all backgrounds and levels of experience.

The sum of what we don’t know is infinitely greater than what we do know. This truth can liberate us from the arrogance of certitude, especially when certitude becomes the rationale for injustice, cruelty, exploitation, and violence.

What lies beyond the door of death is, as long as we’re alive, a mystery beyond our perception. That seems to be baked into the human condition. But what we can see, if we choose to look, is the effect of our beliefs on the way we act towards ourselves and the world around us.

Think of someone who has inspired you because they’ve cultivated some excellence in themselves, be it academic, athletic, artistic, professional, or anything else. All skills, including meditation, require some degree of effort. What constitutes the “Right” kind of effort for you? The answer lies in your aspiration.

It’s not only possible, but necessary, to meditate without changing your thoughts.

There are, of course, many different kinds of meditation, but what is common to all of them is that we bring a high quality of attention to an object, task or process.

In 2023, my longtime mentor and tai chi teacher, Ed Young, passed peacefully in his sleep. Ed was far, far more than a mere instructor or life coach; he was a moral and spiritual Presence, and a living example of the gentle grace that comes from a deep appreciation of the present moment. Most tai chi people are preoccupied with cultivating "root" so that they can't be pushed over. But Ed was rooted in something far more profound -- what he called "the place behind the adjectives."

Over many centuries, a highly specialized vocabulary has evolved around the practice of meditation. Not surprisingly, there are stark differences of opinion and usage between different meditation schools and traditions. This glossary, which includes some terms that I have coined myself, reflects the way I use these words in the teachings presented here and in my client work.