Thought of the Day From Philosopher Alan Watts: “The only Way to Make Sense Out of Change Is to Plunge...
Alan Watts’ 1951 insight – “the only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance” – is revisited as a guide for navigating personal and professional upheaval. The article weaves Watts’ metaphor of a river with the author’s own entrepreneurial missteps, a decade‑long stint in Vietnam, and a transition to writing. It links the philosophy to modern Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which treats painful feelings as usable energy. The piece argues that true progress comes from embracing, not resisting, inevitable change.
Addiction, Recovery, and How Mindfulness Can Support Emotional Sobriety
Recovery coach Stephanie Hazard argues that lasting sobriety requires emotional sobriety—a state of mental balance that goes beyond merely avoiding substances. She illustrates how unresolved trauma can surface as anxiety when a loved one leaves, triggering a cycle of distraction...
The Religion Behind Wellness Trends
Liz Bucar’s new book argues that today’s wellness boom repackages spiritual practices—yoga, mindfulness, psychedelics—without acknowledging their religious origins. She contends that stripping these traditions of their ethical frameworks and communal roots reduces them to short‑lived dopamine fixes. By re‑introducing the...
Metta Where It Matters
Oneika Mays, former bookseller turned mindfulness teacher, released her memoir and guide *Sit With Me* in March, championing a no‑BS, everyday approach to meditation. Drawing on nearly a decade at Rikers Island, she argues that mindfulness should be stripped of...
4 Signs You're a Mindful Zombie
Mindfulness enthusiasts risk becoming "mindful zombies" when practice shifts from genuine awareness to a performative habit. The article outlines four warning signs: sanitized language, loss of humor, cessation of questioning, and a superiority complex that blinds self‑awareness. These behaviors replace...
Tara Brach’s Love & Courage
Tara Brach, renowned mindfulness teacher, released a new workbook titled *The Courageous Heart* to help people navigate the anxiety and division following the 2024 U.S. election. The guide integrates Buddhist bodhisattva principles, her signature RAIN method, and practical exercises for...
Reveal the Mystery
The article explains how shamatha (calm‑abiding) meditation creates observable gaps between thoughts, a practice dubbed “mind the gap.” By repeatedly widening these gaps, meditators transition to vipashyana insight meditation, which reveals the empty, non‑self nature of thoughts. It argues that...
35 Simple Ways to Be More Present (That You Can Do Right Now)
Yoga Journal editor Laura Harold shares 35 practical ways to cultivate presence, ranging from brief breathing pauses to sensory‑rich activities like tasting food mindfully. The list emphasizes that mindfulness needn’t require long meditation sessions; even five‑minute practices can regulate the...
The Trip I Almost Cancelled — And the Silence I Brought Home
A woman’s solo trip to Luang Prabang, Laos, was nearly canceled three times due to family obligations, but she ultimately went and experienced a profound sense of silence and personal sovereignty. The early‑morning alms‑giving ceremony and quiet river journeys stripped...
‘Visitation with the Radiologist’
John Brehm’s new collection, *Just This: New and Selected Poems*, uses Buddhist‑inspired meditation to explore illness, aging, and everyday impermanence. The book’s centerpiece poems—“Visitation with the Radiologist,” “Reprieve,” and “To‑Do List”—turn medical appointments, seasonal change, and mundane chores into reflective...
How Micro-Practices Can Be the Bridge Between Your Meditation and Your Choices
The article argues that micro‑practices—tiny, intentional pauses—can extend meditation’s benefits into everyday decision‑making. It cites research where a brief “active noticing” induction reduced 19 of 22 common cognitive biases, and the author’s own shift from Amazon to alternatives after a...
When Others Help Us Hear Ourselves: A ‘Clearness Committee'
‘Clearness committees’ are small, confidential groups that help an individual clarify personal or professional dilemmas without offering advice. Rooted in Quaker tradition and Parker Palmer’s work, the process relies on open, non‑judgmental questions, intentional silence, and witnessing to surface the...
I’ve Learned Not to Cling to My Beliefs – Even the Ones that Shaped Me | Nadine Levy
Senior lecturer Nadine Levy reflects on how beliefs, while essential frameworks, can become limiting when clung to rigidly. Drawing on personal shifts—from teenage communism to Buddhism—and insights from Buddhist teachers and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, she likens beliefs to a raft...
The Paradox of Letting Go
The article explores the paradox that trying to "let go" reinforces the very grip it seeks to release, arguing that the self‑concept, world, and time are appearances rather than solid foundations. It critiques the modern habit of treating spiritual practice...
Pressure in the Mind
The article explains that a subtle, persistent sense of pressure fuels stress, anxiety, procrastination and other forms of mental suffering. It argues that the problem is not the pressure itself but our habitual reaction to eliminate or surrender to it....