I’ll give you a hint: It’s not about you. — Let me begin with a confession: I’m not a fan of talking about manifestation. About 15 years ago, I discovered the Law of Attraction, and I enjoyed finding a lot of power in learning that what I focused on would grow. But over time, I have grown weary of the…

My recent trip to the land of red rock offered new insights. — “Be like stone” was the message I heard clearly as I sat on the ground, near the creek, as fellow hikers and nature lovers passed nearby. I was sitting in Sedona, at one of the sites known as a “vortex.” It wasn’t my first visit; I had been here some…

Piero Ferrucci’s The Power of Kindness is a classic worth revisiting again and again. — I was on a short retreat at the San Francisco Zen Center, almost 12 years ago, and just before I would experience a profound spiritual awakening. I wandered into a local bookstore and sitting there was a small gem of a book that jumped out at me from the table…

It’s what we do when we fall back into the ego’s illusion of separation — Imagine, for a moment, that all the mountains decided that they didn’t really want to be part of the earth any longer. What if they thought to themselves, We’re really tired of the flatlands, and the trees and animals too. They need to go, so we can just be with…

Why do male teachers keep misusing sexuality? — Imagine you get an opportunity to meet your spiritual teacher for a private discussion about your practice. In that venerated space, he asks you to touch his penis, telling you it’ll help you with “non-attachment” or that “true love is giving yourself to everything.” When you reveal this outrageous conduct…

You might want to use the search function before you publish — There’s a very simple tool that writers don’t seem to use very often before publishing: the search function. Every week, I come across scads of articles written about meditation, awakening, manifestation, forgiveness, and a host of other topics that could be categorized as “mindfulness” or “spirituality.” This is my niche…

It may be time to reassess your motives — Are you sitting down to meditate to experience some relief from a painful situation? Are you opening to the divine or your higher self as a way to feel loved? As someone who has meditated for well over a decade, I know what it’s like to sit down and try…

My younger self crafted a story about failure and belonging — To this day, other than some hazy images of me moving around some puzzle pieces, all I can recall is the sadness on the faces of the adults as I left the I.Q. test. I’m fairly certain I was in the third grade (my memory on this point is also…

There’s one reason you might be having a hard time — It’s not always easy to tell a new story about ourselves. Sure, you can journal for weeks, rewriting the story of your life. You can scream at the top of your lungs on social media, posting about your inner breakthrough. You know that telling a new story about your life…