It’s always an interesting day when one of your books is published. It’s exciting. But you’re sending your inmost thoughts out into the world for other people to read and perhaps judge, and so sometimes it’s nerve-racking as well. I felt rather tired for most of today, and I think it’s probably because of the...| Wildmind
A few weeks ago my partner and I went to a pro-Democracy rally a couple of miles down the road. I’d decided that I wanted to spend my time there meditating, so I took along a yoga mat and my meditation bench, and sat down to meditate. In front of me sat a piece of...| Wildmind
It was lovely to receive this photograph the other day. This is Mara, one of the people who wrote an endorsement of my forthcoming book, “The Heart’s Awakening,” receiving her advance copy. The cat in the background is Cleo. The book doesn’t come out until Oct 14, and I didn’t even know that it existed...| Wildmind
First, the calamity We’re on a very bad path in the US at the moment. Many of you live in the US, as I do, although many of you don’t. However, as they say, “If America sneezes the rest of the world catches cold.” What happens here affects the entire world. Many people outside the...| Wildmind
Because of the alarming political situation in the US, which has parallels with events in other countries, I’ve been writing about how we, as spiritual practitioners, might skillfully face the troubling emotions politics can give rise to. The two emotions that stand out for me are fear (where is this all going? how bad will...| Wildmind
One of my more popular guided meditations on the Insight Timer app is meant to help people get to sleep. It’s been listened to 900,000 times across the two versions that I have available, suggesting that a lot of people have trouble switching their minds off at night and find that meditation helps. Unfortunately, a lot...| Wildmind
As human beings, we are psychologically porous. We’re open to influences from outside ourselves, including others’ words and actions. That’s largely a good thing, because it means we can learn from other human beings. But it also means that what’s going on around us can affect, in not-so-good ways, our sense of what’s normal and...| Wildmind
This is one of a series of articles where I’ve been mythbusting things people “know” about the Buddha. These myths include the supposed facts that he was a prince, that he was born a Hindu, and that he left home after seeing “four sights.” Such factoids are present in almost every book book about the...| Wildmind
Someone wrote to me recently and asked two questions, which boiled down to: Did the Buddha teach self-love? Is loving yourself contrary to seeing through the illusion of self? There was a third question, but it was a little quirky, and so I’ll deal with it at the end. First, I explained that these days...| Wildmind
Just as virtually any book about the Buddha and his teachings tells us that he was a prince (the first myth I tackled), we’re also told that he renounced his kingdom because he saw “four sights.” This is the myth I want to tackle here. The story of the four sights The traditional story goes...| Wildmind
Especially for those who live in the US, there’s a huge amount going on politically. Many supporters of Donald Trump may be delighted by current events, but the rest of us are alarmed, or arguably should be. Violent criminals, including some that assaulted police officers and one who ran an online drugs market, have been...| Wildmind
Many Americans like to “do” a Scottish accent. These attempts all sound the same, but none of them are particularly like an actual Scottish person. The thing is that when an American does a Scottish accent, they are not imitating any Scot they have ever heard — they are imitating another American doing a Scottish...| Wildmind
