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Meditation

Mindfulness versus Concentration

From the excellent Mindfulness in Plain English: Concentration and mindfulness are distinctly different functions. They each have their role to play in meditation, and the relationship between them is …

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Three Fundamental Activities of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is at one and the same time both bare attention itself and the function of reminding us to pay bare attention if we have ceased to do so. According to the excellent, Mindfulness in Plain …

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The 11 Essential Attitudes for Meditation

This comes courtesy of Mindfulness in Plain English, one of the best books on meditation and mindfulness that I’ve ever come across. *** The very process of observation changes what we observe. …

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11 Misconceptions about Meditation

Meditation isn’t easy. It takes time and energy. Some people wonder why they should bother with meditation at all. Here is an inversion of meditation. This is what Meditation isn’t. There …

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Meditation: Why Bother?

Meditation can seem like a lot of time and work for no obvious pay-off. Yet the benefits are dramatic. Meditation can help us truly experience life, rather than just letting it pass us by. Here’s a …

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Reads for the Curious Mind

Out of the 44 books I read from January to June, here are the 7 that resonated with me the most. (For the curious see the 2012, 2013, I can’t find the 2014 edition.) Pebbles of Perception: How a …

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Winifred Gallagher On Living a Focused Life

“The American dream is no longer just to get rich quick, but also to enjoy doing it, the new captains of industry offer various best-selling decalogue for achieving this goal. Their tips range from …

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A Guide to Meditation

If I could encourage you to look into one thing to think and focus better, Lodro Rinzler’s Sit Like a Buddha: A Pocket Guide to Meditation would be it. Rinzler walks us through 10 steps. Step 1 …

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The Art of Stillness

“Sitting still,” writes Pico Iyer in The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere, is “a way of falling in love with the world and everything in it.” The Art of Stillness …

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The Ten Pillars of Cutthroat Zen

Dan Harris turned to meditation after a panic attack on live TV in front of millions of people. In the back of his excellent book, 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without …

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How to be 10% Happier

Think you had a bad day? Dan Harris had a panic attack on live TV in front of millions of people. Something had to change. He knew it. Almost immediately after the panic attack on the air he was …

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What Is Meditation?

I’ve been putting this off for years. Now is a perfect time. Meditation offers a path toward increased happiness, creativity and mindfulness. Steve Jobs was a lifelong practitioner, reading …

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What did Steve Jobs Read?

I’ve always wondered just what influenced Steve Jobs thinking? Walter Isaacson‘s biography of Steve Jobs provides an unprecedented look at not only Steve Jobs life but the books which …

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