Mindful Musings
“Help! I Can’t Meditate!”
“Help! I can’t meditate!” Have you ever felt this way when you tried to start a meditation practice? Common feelings beginning meditators experience are:1. I’m too anxious to sit with my thoughts.2. I don’t have time.3. I can’t remember to meditate, by the time I...
Preventing Violence in Medical Settings
(This article originally appeared in Sierra Sacramento Valley Medicine.) Dr. Hayes was dazed, afraid, and outraged. His patient, Mr. Maxwell, a 45-year-old with chronic knee pain, had just punched him in the mouth in the exam room. He suppressed the urge to fight...
Pain East and West
Current CDC estimates are that about 20% of the population has chronic pain (50 million) and about 8% have high-impact, disabling chronic pain (pain that significantly limits life activities). Chronic pain rates are higher in older adults, adults in poverty, and...
Suffering and Cessation through the Lens of Modern Neuroscience and Buddhism
(This post was originally a talk given at Lion's Roar Dharma Center, Sacramento, California.) The Truth of Suffering For my dharma talk today I am going to take Julie Andrews’ advice and start at the very beginning. The very beginning of Shakyamuni’s teachings was the...
How To Be Selfish Part Two: Loving the Enemy
When I wrote the article “How to be Selfish” I approached the main premise of the article as doing one’s best to understand what is going on for others in order to see that the person wasn’t just “out to get you.” I now see that it is quite impossible to truly...
How To Be Selfish
You may be looking at the title and think “what is a post on selfishness doing in a wellness magazine? When one looks at the term “selfish” we usually ascribe a connotation of acting on one’s self-interests without regard for how another person feels. Hopefully you...