Next week I will return to posting 2x per week.

Today’s question, the 4th in our 7-question series is from Jennifer Louden. Tomorrow’s question, on creativity, is from Jonathan Fields. Stay tuned!

Question: How did I serve in 2011? Whom did I serve? What aspects of my service brought me alive? What aspects drained me? If I could serve in any way possible in 2012, what would I create? Let your imagination run wild.

Service can sound so dull and feel so heavy, something only really good (cue white toothy smile) people do or something you do to other people for their own good. Yuck. Let’s ditch those ideas. Instead, try on the idea that service is your heart’s desire made visible. Service is the act of sharing what you most care about for the greater good. It requires no special goodness, thankfully. After our basic needs are met, we all yearn to make a difference and service springs from listening to that yearning – and taking action on it, step by little step. [Read more →]

“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.” -Albert Einstein

Each day between Dec 26 and Jan 1, fellow teacher, writer, and friend Patti Digh and I are hosting The Week of Inward Looking. Each day, a new question from a wonderful teacher. Today’s contemplation is from Andrew Mellen, aka “VIrgoman” and it is about being organized.

This may not sound super spiritual, but believe me, it is. Once I had the great good fortune to spend several days with a senior coach who trained with the wonderful David Allen, author of the amazing book, “Getting Things Done.” Believe me, although it’s ostensibly about getting your work life organized, it is as much about getting your mind organized as anything else—which, not surprisingly, has tremendous spiritual value. [Read more →]

Each day between Dec 26, 2011 and Jan 1, 2012, one of seven wonderful teachers will offer us a question to contemplate as we head into a new year. Yesteday’s question was from the lovely Patti Digh and it lives here on my blog and here on Facebook. Chime in if you like!

Today’s question is from the equally lovely Ken Robert of mildlycreative.com:

In what way have I been living in the shadows in 2011? How might my life change if I came out into the light in 2012? What strengths could I discover and share if I gave up hiding my weaknesses?

Sometimes we stay hidden, fearful that others might see our wounds and blemishes. We think we’re the only ones who bear them. But I find that when I expose my weaknesses, I give others permission to expose theirs, too. There, beneath the light and in between the blemishes, we find we have strengths we never noticed before. Hiding becomes far less appealing and we’re drawn to living instead. In 2011, what were you hiding all year? What could you do to stop hiding in 2012? What treasures will you find when you step out into the light? –Ken Robert [Read more →]

As we move into a new year, I want to offer you a few personal reflections, some suggestions for your own process of reflecting, and opportunities to practice together into 2012.

For me, this week provides the perfect circumstances for turning within and asking myself honestly, how did I do in 2011? What do I hope for in 2012? How might I get there?

I’ve found that it doesn’t do to make lists of things I hope to accomplish but feel are lacking currently. This just makes me sad. Instead, I’ve found it more useful to begin training myself into the feeling state I know is most beneficial, which is to have an open heart and a sense of possibility. No matter how things are going in my life, if I know how to return to this state of receptivity and curiosity, then I have found the key to joy. And after all, this, a joyful life, is my objective, not making a gajillion dollars, weighing less pounds, or possessing a particular title. Not that there is anything wrong with those things but if my happiness is dependent on them, they are traps. Instead of requiring certain things to feel joyful, I could just feel joyful, on the spot. When I turn my attention to the truth of my experience rather than what I wish my experience was, this wakeful state is always what I find. And my favorite definition of joyful? Awake. [Read more →]

In the last newsletter, I mentioned one idea for creating new year’s resolutions in such a way that they become part of your spiritual path rather than an exercise in psychological self-torture. It was to attune to the presence of what you seek in your environment and connect with its energy on the spot. In this way, we build a non-conceptual bridge to our destination.

Today I want to mention a second possibility for giving your resolutions power and possibility. It is this: To always include other people in your resolutions. [Read more →]

The last two weeks of December are among my very favorite of the year—not necessarily because of the holidays and all that, but because it is a natural time for turning inward, taking stock, envisioning the future, and so on.

I have two suggestions for making new year’s resolutions in such a way that they become a part of your spiritual practice rather than an exercise in wishful thinking and self-aggression. Here is the first one. Tune in on Wednesday for the second one.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent many a late December making long lists of goals to achieve and personal qualities to possess. None of my goals were bad or wrong, and my vision of the kind of person I wanted to be was someone good and kind. The goals themselves were not the problem, it was the way I set about accomplishing them. At the end of each year, I always seemed to have the same resolutions so obviously just writing them down and wishing really, really hard for them to come true wasn’t getting it. It also did not seem helpful to imagine / visualize the outcomes I desired. Doing so just seemed to make me more anxious.

There are two little twists I’ve applied to my end of the year accountings and vision for the coming year that have make a big difference. As mentioned, the first one is in today’s newsletter and the second one will come on Wednesday. They’re both pretty simple. [Read more →]

OK, you know from my book review of We Are All Weird that I love Seth. I even got to share the stage with him briefly last week when he invited me to say a few words at The Medicine Ball Session about meditation and getting to know how your mind works. (Which is very important when you’re trying to navigate the tremendous ups and downs of starting/growing your business–I can say with all honesty that for me the biggest obstacle is,well, me. The tremendous ups and downs of emotion, self-confidence, and creative energy…) Here is a picture of this super cool occurrence.

WORD!!! [Read more →]

I continue to receive excellent questions from members of The Open Heart Project.

Q: Don’t most schools of Buddhism advise against attachment? Does attaching yourself to other humans make your awareness grow or be clouded, in your opinion?

A: I used to work for a guy who would change direction on our projects without telling me. He kept moving the cheese, as it were. When I expressed upset or confusion, he would often say something like, “you shouldn’t be so attached.” At the time, I actually believed that—partly because he was my boss and I admired him (and he held my paycheck in his hands) and partly because I was confused about what attachment meant.

For a long time, I believed not being attached meant not feeling anything too strongly one way or another, as if becoming sad or angry was a sign of spiritual non-attaintment. I thought that the fruit of spiritual practice was to abide in a permanent state of non-reaction or, if I did feel something “negative” it should somehow magically dissolve in the nectar of unseen equanimity so I could be returned to a state of bliss. Whatever that means.

At the same time, though, no one ever said anything about being too attached when they were happy. In fact, the same people who counseled non-attachment when things went poorly seemed quite happy to attach to things that worked out well. Understandably. I mean, we’re all human. The thing is, if you’re going to practice non-attachment to difficulty, you also have to practice it to joy. This is where it becomes very interesting and also much more human and wonderful. [Read more →]

I’m sure you have felt gentleness time and again for those you love or admire: your child, lover, a hero of music or politics, even your pet. You think of this creature and your heart melts. You feel how deeply you wish for their ease, and not because they “deserve” it. There actually is no reason at all for this feeling, beyond love. Your heart is simply open.

When have you ever felt this toward yourself? It is very, very important that you look at yourself in just this way. Please, starting today: soften toward this precious and irreplaceable being: YOU. All you have to do is notice her. She is like no other and has gifts to give that cannot be sourced elsewhere.

From here, you are able to feel this way for everyone, not just those you already love. In this way, by opening your heart, first to yourself and then to all beings, you open up to your own life.

I’d like to offer you a writing prompt from time to time, as suggested by one lovely member of the OHP. If you feel so moved, get out your journal and ponder this:

“Since I have begun to meditate, what I have learned about myself is…

If you’d like, please share what you write in the comments section.