Good morning, friends! Today I have a beautiful quote for you from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Maharaj was a humble petty shopkeeper in India who died in 1981. He was also a profound teacher who attracted followers from all over the world. Here’s something that he said: “The seeker is one who is in search of himself. Give up all questions except one: ‘Who am I?’ After all, the only fact you are sure of is that you are. The ‘I am’ is certain. The ‘I am this’ is not. Struggle to find out what you are in reality. To know what you are, you must first investigate and know what you are not. Discover ..read more

A happy and love-filled day to you, friends, I had conversations with two people recently which were quite similar and that I’d like to report on this morning for the common good. I bring up the content of these conversations because I believe it to be just about universally relevant, and supremely important as well for those of us who are attempting to wake up and end suffering. One of the persons I talked with is relatively new to practice; the other one is returning to practice after having wandered away from practice for a period of time. Both are feeling highly motivated to become more p ..read more

Howdy, folks! For your Almost-Daily Dharma today (I apologize for the silence these past few days–my life has been unusually full of other things…) I thought I would offer you the prompt that went out just now to the folks who attend the Thursday evening and Sunday morning meditation and discussion groups. I send out notices twice a week to remind people of the groups and to inform them of the topic if there is one. If you would like to join in, just let me know and I’ll sign you up. The topic for the evening is something that we may all profit from, I think. Here is what I said: “At the mona ..read more

I have scheduled three retreats so far for 2024, and to give you the details. Save the dates! I would love to see you and practice with you at one of these retreats, or two, or all three. You’ll find the information you’ll need below in order to sign up. I hope you will feel moved to support your life and your practice by taking a few days apart from your normal cares and responsibilities and devote those days to presence, awareness, rest, relaxation, and self-love. First I’ll give you the summary, and then the detail…. April 17-21: The Spring Retreat in Western North Carolina (Four nights, W ..read more

I wonder if you have noticed this phenomenon: If you allow conditioned mind to beat you up for doing something you didn’t want to do (or for not doing something you did want to do), then that pretty much guarantees that you will do the thing again as soon as you have another opportunity. Why is this? This is because the fundamental reason we do the things we do that are unhealthy, counterproductive, self-defeating, and so on, is so that we can feel bad about doing them. Said another way, we do these things in order to prove to ourselves that we are the wrong person that we believe ourselves t ..read more

Good morning, good friends! I wonder if you’ve noticed that the body doesn’t know the difference between something that is actually happening in life, and something that the mind imagines is happening. Either way, the body responds as if the happening is a real thing. If the mind imagines that there is an imminent danger to be afraid of, then the brain will flood the body with chemicals in order to put the body in a state of readiness. If the mind imagines something delightful that may happen, then the brain is flooded with dopamine, and the experience in the body is the same as if that delig ..read more

Good morning, good people! I’m remembering a friend who was terrified that he did not or would not have enough money. This was several years ago. It was in his mind much of the time that he was bankrupt, or very soon would be, and that scared him enough to keep him up at night. As a result, he worked hard, and harder than was good for him or his body, in order to make sure that he had enough money and would not go broke. All the while–this is the fascinating part–he never looked to see how much money he actually had. Isn’t that amazing? He was scared of what he would find if he looked into th ..read more

Good day, everyone! At the end of meditation each day (over zoom – let me know if you’d like to join in) I offer a reading of some kind for inspiration, for the teaching within it, and to set the tone for the day. This week I’ve begun reading from a new book: Thoughts in Solitude, by Thomas Merton, the influential Trappist monk who died in the late sixties. The book contains notes that Merton made during a long solo retreat. Here’s a passage I’ve found to be interesting and helpful: “The ascetical life, therefore, must be begun and carried out with supreme respect for temperament, character ..read more

Happy day to you, everyone! One of my intentions in my life is to avoid any unnecessary thinking. Perhaps you have a similar desire for yourself. Some thinking is necessary, of course, and some is both pleasurable and helpful. I prefer, however, that my mind not be cluttered with stuff that doesn’t need to be there. I would much rather it be filled with the experience of presence, and the various particular experiences that happen in presence (the sunshine in the trees, the breeze on my face, the company of the good people in my life…), and presence does not happen when there is no space for ..read more

Good morning, everyone, and happy Saturday to you! The other day a friend I was talking with asked himself this most excellent question: “Would I rather save my face or save my ass?” Haha! Isn’t that great? I chuckled about that all the rest of the day. What he is referring to, of course, is our tendency, us conditioned people, to prioritize looking good in the eyes of others above all other things–even above our own freedom. Being cool, for many, it appears–or successful, or smart, or cute, or a host of other things–is the most important thing in the world. Not a good approach to life, obvio ..read more