Yourself

All of us, even animals, need to love and be loved. We need it for basic survival, we need it for growth, both physical and emotional, and we need it for happiness. 

All of us, even animals, need to love and be loved. We need it for basic survival, we need it for growth, both physical and emotional, and we need it for happiness. 

Ancient Vedic texts describe the universe and everything in it, including us, as being made of bliss. Bliss is our underlying nature, discoverable through a focus on this moment of experience.

Ancient Vedic texts describe the universe and everything in it, including us, as being made of bliss. Bliss is our underlying nature, discoverable through a focus on this moment of experience.

I have been rethinking selfishness, the ego, and self-centeredness. In some schools of thought these are dirty words, nasty attributes to be subdued, transmuted, and overcome. But maybe they're not so bad. Maybe it's all how you look at them. Baseball star Reggie Jackson said, "The only thing I don't...

We often have the misconception that our emotions interfere with our experience of ultimate peace: that they are the storm that distracts us from spacious calm. There are so many false notions about emotions. We usually learn at an early age that there are "good"...

Seeking out a community of healing, being exploited in it, perhaps assuming the shame and responsibility for what went wrong, and then isolating back into our struggle, can become a cycle. This happens in many ways as we choose bold and radical new lives for ourselves.

Seeking out a community of healing, being exploited in it, perhaps assuming the shame and responsibility for what went wrong, and then isolating back into our struggle, can become a cycle...

"He makes me want to be a better person." As I reflected on this statement later, I realized that this is the best compliment anyone could ever hope to receive. Just think about your own life... Think of the reactions and comments you may have made about others...

Many people have real challenges in their relationships with other people. Are you one of them? One of the largest contributing factors to your ability to freely enjoy other people depends upon how much you enjoy yourself... how much you accept yourself.

The word respect is commonly used as it relates to respecting others. For example, "Respect your elders. Honor your mother and your father." These phrases are familiar. But how about this one: "Honor yourself." Does that feel right to you?

I discovered the healing power of getting in touch with feelings while struggling with a serious illness. Without realizing what I was doing or where it would lead, I scribbled and doodled my feelings out on paper. These strange...

Considering the challenges facing humanity, one might wonder if it’s time to put less emphasis on activity and more emphasis on awakening. Less what and more why. The form of life is the chalice through which we drink the essence of life.

Junk emotions, such as anxiety, jealousy, anger, obsession, short-temperedness, greed, hatred, and so on, are neither good for us nor are they good for other people with whom we come into contact. They need to be inventoried, just like...

Why do we project our repressed parts? Why can't or don't those parts just remain peacefully buried -- or asleep in the basement -- and let us go on undisturbed with our "normal" lives? Apparently there is no way to avoid it even while there are limitless ways to ignore or deny it...

Difficulties we are having in our relationships often mirror parts of ourselves that we need to heal. Such difficulties may involve a family member, a close friend, a coworker, or even a clerk in a store. If you are having difficulty with a relationship take...

Unfortunately, many of us get lost on our way to find wholeness and happiness — we get lost in search of the perfect Other instead of seeking our whole and true self. When you depend on a romantic relationship to make you feel okay or whole, you can get into trouble...

The quest to discover 'Who am I?' and 'Why am I here?' is often preceded by some crisis that serves as a wake-up call and has the potential to propel us, if we're willing, into a more expanded or spiritual awareness. It was cancer that gave me the opportunity to test the principles I had...

Many of us settle for meager rations in life while we are entitled to enjoy a great banquet. One of the areas we tend to starve ourselves in is relationships.

What if someone close to you turned out to be a hero to millions? The seeds of greatness can sprout anywhere, through anyone. Every great person, from Galileo to St. Francis to Martin Luther King Jr., grew up as a normal person and did normal things with normal people. Probably none of their buddies expected...

When we don't recognize or accept certain parts of our own nature - positive and negative - we'll project these qualities onto others. Those who anger, irritate, frustrate, and even consciously attempt to sabotage us are our greatest teachers...

The world tries to mold every person into a commodity: useful, efficient, obedient - never rebellious, never asserting itself, never declaring its own individuality, but always being subservient, almost like a robot.

Too often the inner brat influences us to say or do things that we later regret, just because it can't tolerate even mild frustration. Representing primitive desires and impulses, the inner brat wants what it wants, when it wants it, without considering the consequences.