Lately I’ve been thinking about what ‘contentment’ really means. ‘Contentment’ is one of the niyamas, the set of five personal observances that Patanjali lists in the second chapter of his Yoga-sutras. It’s also a state of being that can be very hard to attain. How do we find real contentment? One way is to try to understand what the obstacles to […]
Read MoreI’ve been reflecting back on my life as a teenager recently; on how it seems as if it were a previous life rather than an early chapter of this one; on how reckless I was with my privileges and resources; on how lucky I was to get away with so many ill-advised escapades without losing my life or my freedom; […]
Read MoreHow are you doing? Usually, at least where I come from, ‘how are you doing?’ – or, to be more accurate, ‘howya doin’?’ – is a greeting, not a question. But this time I’m really asking. Things have been rough for the last few weeks and it will probably get worse before it gets better. So please tell me how […]
Read MoreWell, that was intense… and scary and strange and tragic and wonderful – so long, 2019! It’s natural to look back at the end of the year and reflect on what we’ve done before we look ahead to what we hope to do. Personally, my tendency is to think more about what remains to be done rather than about what […]
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The Power of Truthfulness
It’s said that we live in an unfortunate season of time; a time when simple living and elevated thinking give way to complicated entanglements and diminished reasoning, when purity gives way to pollution, mercy gives way to malevolence, and truthfulness gives way to falsehood. It’s a time when people are needlessly quarrelsome, consistently misguided, unlucky, and, above all, always disturbed. […]
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