Impatience, Time and Nothingness
I am looking to circumambulate two propositions: That impatience stems from a skewed relationship with time, while nothingness and the serious engagement with death are profoundly integrating and healing. […]
The Many Faces Of Aloneness
Like the weather shaping landscapes, aloneness pervades our psyche in ways that continually modulate its character. This topic recently came to be worked through in one of my psychotherapy groups, and as if by synchronicity, it also surfaced in the Mindsight Intensive during our explorations of unfamiliar modes of awareness we can access through meditation. I took this as an opportunity to try to put some order in this complex topic that elicited many questions from patients and students alike. […]
The Dream Of Ordinary Waking Consciousness
Examining ordinary waking consciousness The content of this article is taught in a practical and experiential manner in next year’s 2022 Mindsight Intensive. Details of the curriculum can be found here. The movie Escape Plan with Stallone and Schwarzenegger depicts an archetype we have to wrestle with when we want to examine ordinary waking consciousness. Stallone is a top-secret agent specializing in breaking out of prisons to reveal weaknesses in the prisons’ security. […]
The Often Elusive Sense Of Who We Are
Thrive to live meaningful lives in health and well-being Occasionally, as during this past week, important insights of potentially universal interest arise from the work in self-exploration in my psychodynamic groups. What we can learn from the detailed work the group members were involved in, is worth sharing for the benefit of a larger audience. For reasons of confidentiality, no identifying details are mentioned of course. […]
Initiation Renaissance In Our Pandemic Times
Mindsight in Our Pandemic Times COVID is one of those unpredictable natural phenomena that throws the whole of humanity into multi-level turmoil, challenging much of how we thought we can live our lives. We are forced to reflect, review and rethink how we live on this planet, making it improbable to hold on to the old consciousness horizons we were used to. This can be seen as a form of initiation we are willy-nilly subjected to. […]
Dealing With Limb Movements And Pain In Mindfulness Meditation
Awareness into deeper unconscious energy with Mindfulness Meditation An important rule in proper meditation is to relinquish control of one’s limbs, because the brain uses movements of arms and legs to express restlessness, discharge nervous energy and avoid the deeper awareness of painful subjective experiences. Without even noticing, we wiggle, jiggle, shake and scratch, not realizing how deeply we interfere through arm and leg movements with the penetration of our attention and awareness into deeper unconscious energy flows that drive our suffering. […]
The Core Secret Of Mindsight – Get Out Of Your Own Way
Consciousness and Mindsight Does this sound familiar? You consciously decide to have a snack and you go ahead and have one. You then decide to put on laundry, and you go down to the laundry room to do it. It then occurs to you that it’s a good idea to get married to your partner, and you arrange to do so. And by the way, it’s time to buy a house, and off you go and look for houses. Finally, you decide to watch some TV and there you go, watching it. This is more or less how your day unfolds, just with many more decisions you believe having consciously made. But is that really what goes on? […]
Control Or No Control? – That Is The Algorithmic Question
Awareness – Wiring your brain for mindfulness rather than mindlessness. Here are two related questions that two students recently asked about mindfulness meditation: “I am confused about control. There seems to be a contradiction: On one hand it feels like we take control in meditation, on the other hand we learn to relinquish control. What’s the solution?” […]
Light and shadow
The relationship between the darkness we face in both life and meditation, and the light we all so fervently seek. When I saw these little meditating skeletons ornate with a Santa hat, a whole slew of complex feelings and ideas came to mind, inspiring me to use them for a Christmas blog. I wondered how Coca Cola, Santa, skeletons, meditation, Christ and festivals of light such as Christmas, Hanukkah and Diwali are all connected? Sit down with a tea as I did, as we embark together in reflection, leaving entrenched belief systems you may have at the door waiting. […]
Working With Anxiety – An Experienced Mindfulness Student’s Perspective
Managing anxiety and mindfulness principles For anonymity’s sake let’s call my student Sean. For years his anxiety was debilitating! He has struggled with it for about 30 years and sought help in many different ways, including counselling and medication treatment. After a course of individual psychotherapy with me, as well as intense involvement in the practice of mindfulness meditation, he eventually got to the point of being able to live without medication, most of the time symptom-free. […]