self-care

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. (“Closing Time”) Tell me you are a member of Generation X, without telling me you are a member of Generation X. [Starts final blog with a quote from the song “Closing Time” by Semisonic] This column marks the end of my series on mindfulness and meditation on […]

Equanimity is an important concept in mindfulness practice and cultivating equanimity can be a primary benefit of a regular meditation practice. Equanimity is a mindset that reflects the capacity to take life as it comes, and not become caught up in anything that happens to us. It gives us a sense of balance and the […]

“In the event of an emergency, please put on your oxygen mask first before assisting others.” I usually don’t take life advice from corporations that cram me into a metal tube, give me a bag of pretzels, and hurtle me from place to place across the earth at 400 mph, but in the case of […]

Sharon Salzberg is one of my favorite meditation teachers. I mentioned her in a previous blog when I discussed metta or loving-kindness meditation and her approach to the practice resonates with me. She, along with Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield, is known for being one of the earliest teachers of meditation in the West. In […]

How did a choir director, meditation teacher, and bagel maker go from a quiet, content life in Lincoln, Nebraska to a job as a Visiting Professor in Shepherdstown, West Virginia? First, let me dispel the incorrect notion that meditation breeds apathy and/or passivity. While the Buddha noted that attachment was a primary cause of human […]

As the summer draws to a close, so, too, does my six-part series on mindfulness and meditation. I have enjoyed putting my thoughts about meditation into words, and I hope you have found my posts to be thought provoking and inspiring. Moving forward, I’ll be blogging once a month, a “Monthly Meditation,” so this last […]