You’ve heard something like this before—without death, we could never know the preciousness of life. When a loved one falls ill, suddenly our relationship with them is imbued with an entirely new quality. But what happens when the loved one who falls ill isn’t human? What if it’s a lake whose life we mourn? In this season finale, Thomas shares about a close friend of his who initiated him in death, and Great Salt Lake, who is now in dangerous decline. He invites us all to reconsider what personhood is, and what it might mean to open our hearts to the lands that sustain us.
Confusion gets a bad rap. When we feel clear, when we know who we are and where our life is headed, we often suppose that this is a desirable way to be. On the other hand, when we feel confused, it’s as if we can’t quite relax. There’s a queasiness in our body that we long to get rid of. But what if clarity and confusion are just two facets of a single gem? What if we need confusion to truly be clear, and clarity to unlock the power of “divine confusion?” Have a listen to this episode and see if your relationship to confusion doesn’t start to shift straight away.
A colleague of mine recently asked me, “How do we be love?” As soon as he asked, I felt any intellectual response buckle under the weight of his question. There were no words. But I walked around with the question, and let it in deep. The following meditation arose out of that inquiry, which I’m honored to share with you here.
Love and Blessings on your day. -Thomas
What is Metalineage? Gloria Pak returns to the studios for part II of this lively conversation.
How can we take the best from all our influences without sacrificing what we take to be essential? How can the lineages and traditions that speak to us individually bring one another to a greater fullness? The conversation culminates with a question for all of us: how is metalineage living through you? How will you express your highest values in this life, leaving nothing good behind?
This is a special episode. Gloria Pak visits the Mindfulness+ studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts to engage Thomas in a conversation about his recent book, At-One-Ment: Embodying the Fullness of Human Divinity. What does it mean to belong to a tradition? What does it mean to leave a tradition? If we’ve left, are there meaningful ways to continue to embody and bring forth the best of the lineages that form us? How do we engage in our “local-ness” while also making way for the universal wonder of Spirit? Listen in to this soulful exploration of a new kind of spirituality that is showing up on our planet.
Who are we really? And what ideas do we have about ourselves and others that keep us distant from them, keep us isolated? In this special episode, Thomas tells a story of an encounter he had with his grandfather recently, and the unexpected moment of Presence that shone through 26 years of estrangement.
We seem to intuitively admire the capacity for range in human beings, e.g. singers who can hit the high and the low notes, actors and actresses who can do tragedy as well as they can do comedy. What does it mean from a mindfulness perspective to have significant “experiential range?” In this episode we explore the concept and of course, delve into the terrain together through practice.
We’ve all heard about the glamorous side of a mindfulness practice: reduced stress, elevated mood, better relationships and more. But what about acknowledging the genuinely terrifying side of practice? As we deepen in our awareness practice, our fear tends to increase exponentially. Paradoxically, it is in this fear that we can find our greatest freedom.
Donald Altman, M.A. LPC, is a psychotherapist, award-winning writer, former Buddhist monk and teacher. He joins us on Mindfulness+ to discuss his path of transformation and new book on mindfulness, “Reflect.” For more information about Donald, click here. Or, order his book.
You may have noticed that in meditation, as in life, sometimes it’s helpful to exert effort, and other times, effort just gets in the way. We need to let go, ease up. In this episode, Thomas guides a longer meditation, pointing out the moments when it might be most helpful to “bear down and ease up.”
