Imagine that you are an actor and the director calls with a new assignment. It goes something like this: “We’re sending you into a new theatre for the role of a lifetime.” So far, so good. “But be forewarned you are joining a hostile cast and some of the other actors may not be welcoming to you.” No problem, you’ve handled jealous cast mates before. And the role? “Well, you enter the stage totally nude, utterly dependent on the older actors…
Virtually all of us exist in a state of chronic, low-grade suffering or, as Thoreau put it, we while away our days in “quiet desperation.” It is the first and perhaps most important of the Buddha’s four noble truths, this idea of life as…
Many of us have a relationship with someone who is utterly out of touch with his or her own behavior. You know the type, forever blaming a mate, society, the Communists, sun spots for what ails them. They repeat the same mistakes over and…
Picture an individual who, for one reason or another, annoys you. I don’t care how “Zen” you are, there is someone in your life who fits this bill (a boss, a spouse, a child, the neighbor, the driver who cut you off in traffic…
Few of us in this day and age haven’t heard the expression, “What you put your mind to is what you become” or “Your thoughts are things so be careful with your thoughts,” or some version of the same. Thus the more motivated of…
I met a friend for a couple of beers today, commiserating with him over what, potentially, could be his second divorce. En route home I had the music blasting, a rarity for me these days what with the kids living with me. The slight…