As it’s around the end of the first month of the new year, it seems appropriate to revisit the matter of New Year’s resolutions. Why? Well, because I seem to recall having read more than once that most such resolutions fail to make it past the first month. So, how are yours faring? The State of My Own Resolutions I will admit, for my part, … Continue reading Re-Resolving
Does a New Year’s resolution have to be new? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself recently. The answer I’ve come to isn’t a simple yes or no. Let me back up a moment and take a slightly different route. … Continue reading Does a New Year’s Resolution Have To Be New?
I was reflecting on these not long ago, and they seem worth sharing. They are some important things I’ve learned, conceptually but even more so practically, concerning the practice of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity (the four “divine dwellings”). That pertains to the formal meditation practices, and more informal versions of that practice, and also simply the ordinary exercise of dwelling in those states in the course of ordinary living. Continue reading Four Things I’ve Learned About the Divine Dwellings
I’ve been reflecting recently on some forms of creative block that aren’t actually creative block. And so maybe, I shouldn’t even call them forms of creative block. What to call them then? Things that seem like creative block but aren’t? Extrinsic blocks to creative exercise or completion? Whatever the case, it seemed interesting enough to share, and perhaps relevant beyond that. So here are five … Continue reading When Creative Block Isn’t Creative Block
Lately, I’ve had occasion to reflect on certain aspects of life that aren’t obviously or directly philosophical or spiritual, and to wonder how they might be made philosophical. Or, for that matter, to wonder how they might already be philosophical, even if their philosophical character is indirect or otherwise not obvious. (To clarify what I mean by “philosophical,” please see Philosophy as an Art of … Continue reading Some Philosophical-Spiritual Dimensions of Material Welfare Type Activities
With the New Year’s holiday, and the tradition of New Year’s resolutions, just around the corner for many of us, it seems appropriate to recount some simple advice from Epictetus, the famous Stoic philosopher and teacher. … We all know, I think, that New Year’s resolutions tend not to last beyond January. … Continue reading Some New Year’s Resolutions Counsel from Epictetus
I’d like to continue with the topic of exercising and developing Right Effort, and in particular some of Bhante Henepola Gunaratana’s more specific guidance for making the First Great Effort. In the present post I’ll focus on Wise Attention. First, as some reminders and re-caps of previous posts: 1. The first great effort is directing your effort toward preventing unskillful states from arising in the … Continue reading Mindfulness as Method for the First Great Effort, Part 4: Gunaratana’s Guidance, Part B
In this post I’d like to … return to the idea and the phenomenon of the toxic inner critic. … The ‘inner’ in ‘inner critic’ can be understood in two ways, hence the title of this article. On the one hand, “the critic” is a mental phenomenon, although… Continue reading Describing the Critic: The Inner Critic Is More Than Just the Inner Critic
…Thus the question we continue to try to answer is: How to prevent negative or unwholesome, i.e. unskillful, states from arising in the first place?
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, in Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness, answers thus: “By maintaining unremitting mindfulness. Just that.”
One’s ability to do this, however, is limited by how developed one’s faculty of mindfulness is, and by how habituated to its exercise the mind is…. Continue reading Mindfulness as Method for the First Great Effort, Part 3: Gunaratana’s Guidance, Part A
Are you familiar with the term, and the notion, of sensory diet? Are you familiar with the term, and the notion, of sensory diet? I had never heard the term before, but was delighted with it. Intuitively, it made sense. … Continue reading Sensory Diet: A Brilliant Concept
Vices Presenting as Virtues In his 2022 The Myth of Normal, thinker and physician Gabor Mate observes that vices often masquerade as virtues, not only in the behaviors of individuals but in societally widespread beliefs and perceptions. Roughly 2400 years earlier, philosopher and physician’s son Aristotle wrote of similar phenomena in his then-unpublished notes concerning ethics, character, and happiness. A display of rashness or foolhardiness … Continue reading A Meditation Concerning Anger, Compassion, False Compassion, Root Nature, and Misperceptions of Vices and Virtues
In a previous post, I explored how the First Great Effort — to prevent unskillful states from arising — is not an all-or-nothing operation, but instead a progressive exercise in relative prevention. In this post, I’ll start to explore actual practice methods for making the first great effort. First to quickly contextualize this: The First Great Effort is one of Four Great Efforts, which belong … Continue reading Mindfulness as Method for the First Great Effort, Part 2: Five Specific Practices
In this post, I want to return to the First Great Effort, and consider awareness as a primary method for making this type of effort. Somewhat recently, I posted a more general description and consideration of the first great effort, which forms part of the path-factor of Skillful Effort. In that post (link below), it was said that “the most basic and general practical method … Continue reading Mindfulness as Method for the First Great Effort, Part 1: Considering Preventing and Arising
Do you ever notice formal patterns that seem to occur in quite different material domains? I occasionally do, and it’s always an intriguing type of thing to notice. Lately, I’ve been observing a sort of principle of praxis which occurs both in financial investing and in philosophy, and perhaps in medicine as well. In Financial Investing In financial investing or trading, this is essentially the … Continue reading Simply Seeking Not to Screw Up: A Formal Foundation in Finance and Philosophy
Using the breath as an anchor is a classic example. However, the breath can be too subtle a sensation for many of us. One tactic I’ve tried is to set a repeating, silent vibrate alarm on a Fitbit device, which has not been especially successful. Another tactic I’ve heard of (but haven’t tried) is to wear a non-medicated “intra-nasal” menthol inhaler. The idea is that … Continue reading Question of the Day: What’s one “hack” for maintaining continual mindful awareness in daily life?
In my previous two posts, I tried to outline the first and second Great Efforts, which form part of the Right Effort path-factor. The first and second great effort are both about dealing with unskillful or “unwholesome” states. They are also both rather active. In this post I’ll talk about more receptive aspects of using skillful effort to deal with unwholesome states. Sayadaw U Tejaniya, … Continue reading Skillful Effort: Receptive Aspects of Dealing with Unskillful States
In the previous post, I described and reflected on the first of the Four Great Efforts, which are a canonical rubric for understanding one dimension of the path-factor of Skillful Effort. In this current post, I’ll consider the Second Great Effort. Whereas the First Great Effort consists in preventing unskillful states from arising in the first place, the second great effort is an attempt to … Continue reading Skillful Effort: The Second Great Effort
This post is about the philosophical practice and topic of Skillful Effort. There are at least two major dimensions to Skillful Effort, one dealing with the manner in which we exert effort, the other with the immediate ends toward which we direct our exertions. Today I’ll approach this second dimension, using a canonical rubric known as the Four Great Efforts. These are four interrelated, immediate … Continue reading Skillful Effort: The First Great Effort
What is there to rely on when just about everything is temporary? Impermanence Several days ago, I was thinking about the mark of impermanence, and about how it might be explained, whether to myself or for someone else. This of course would entail communicating the truth that just about everything is temporary. Although we’re all aware of this at some level, most of us are … Continue reading Buddha Nature, The Path, Impermanence: Reflecting On the Need for Something to Rely On
My most recent self-educational fixation (not for the first time) has been to improve my understanding of stock markets and financial investing with stocks. I’ve found it to be far more interesting than expected, with respect to how the market itself works, and regarding the tendencies of mind I encounter when considering investments. I’m curious about other people’s experiences of these matters: What has been … Continue reading Question of the Day: What Is Your Impression or Experience of Stock Market Investing?
