Giving is the first of the ten “paramis” or perfections of a Bodhisattva, a highly Awakened person who postpones his or her ultimate enlightenment to bring all beings to liberation. You can read this article within a Buddhist framework or simply for its reflections on the deeply human, widespread, and everyday matter of giving.
The marvelous human capabilities for understanding each other, and feeling understood, developed in the brain over millions of years. Learning about these can help you understand and work better with your own empathic capabilities.
Learn about the origin of the best and the worst characteristics of human beings . . . and how to nurture the good that lies inside every heart.
This article is adapted from a talk given at James Baraz’s Awakening Joy class, 9/26/07, and it considers four questions about empathy.
Learn methods from psychology and contemplative practice – both informed by neuroscience – that you can use to bear and cope with and heal and grow from your difficult experiences, and those of others you care about.
The brain’s default setting of apprehensiveness wears down well-being, and feeds anxiety and depression. And it’s based on a lie. Learn how to access a fundamental sense of alrightness, even when getting things done.
This is an excerpt of pages 134-137 from the book Just One Thing.
To make your way in life, you need strength, determination, and grit. Fortunately, inner strength is not all or nothing. You can build it, just like a muscle.
When you find pleasure in life, you are not pushing away things that are hard or painful. You are simply opening up to the sweet stuff that’s already around you—and basking, luxuriating, and delighting in it.
This is an excerpt of pages 17-21 of the book Just One Thing
This is the table of contents for the book Just One Thing.
This is an excerpt of pages 1-10 from the book Just One Thing.
Psychology, neuroscience, and spiritual practice all have an interest in what in the world the self is – if it’s anything at all – and so it’s helpful to know what we mean when we use that word, since it actually can mean quite a few different things.
When your attention is steady, so is your mind: not rattled or hijacked by whatever pops into awareness, but stably present, grounded, and unshakable. You can train and strengthen your attention just like any other mental ability.
