Who am I?  True Self, Little Self, and Awakening What is the True Self?        This is the state of being. It is found in consciousness or awareness's still, silent, and alert presence. Consciousness is incarnated in each of us for the purpose not only of being a functional human—see below the little self—but also of […]

 Evidence-based beneficial effects of mindfulness meditation. A 2024 update Mindfulness meditation has nothing to do with sitting relaxed and daydreaming about this or that. The practice of mindfulness meditation is simple but demanding:  focusing, in a mindful way, on a target, such as our breathing to anchor our wandering mind forcing it to slow down. […]

  RIGHT VIEW “And what, monks, is Right View? It is monks, the knowledge of suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering. This is called the Right View.” – Buddhist Scripture The Eightfold Path consists of eight interrelated steps leading to Nirvana. It […]

                         Being at peace with ourselves.A Zen perspective In the following, “peace” is synonymous with harmony, stability, contentment towards,  eventually equanimity of our state of mind. How often your mood is restless / jitter? Surprisingly, most studies show that our emotional default mode is, to various degrees,  on a “non-peaceful, restless state”,  mostly in our subconscious […]

By tradition, we differentiate our thoughts from our emotions, but Zen is teaching us that they are, quite often, tightly entangled like 2 sides of the same coin. They are our mental twins. Therefore, a vicious circle can build up between our thoughts and emotions,  feeding each other back and forth between our subconscious and […]