Ever since Michael Brown was shot dead by a police officer in Ferguson, MO I don't think I've been able to reflect on our political situation without a mix of anger, horror or despair. It's been tough to know what to do with these very difficult emotions even at the best of times; when the … Continue reading (Politics) Mindful Resistance
Tag: mindfulness
(Buddhism) Smile, Breathe and Go Slowly
We're living in a time where fear is a completely natural and understandable response. It feels like the world is perilously close to the edge of ruin -- nuclear tensions between the world superpowers are higher than they've been since the Cold War; our governments are doing very little to deal with the environmental problems … Continue reading (Buddhism) Smile, Breathe and Go Slowly
(Personal) Perpetual Tharn
We're three weeks in to 2018 -- just long enough to settle into the new year and whatever new habits or goals we've set for ourselves. I wanted to push myself towards more mindful behavior this year, doing my best to really dive into right speech, action, and livelihood. While last year was definitely stressful, … Continue reading (Personal) Perpetual Tharn
(Personal) Accountability Report, February 2017
At the beginning of the month, I noted that while I hadn't quite achieved a perfect run on meditating and writing every day I had done pretty well for myself. There were a couple of days with Further Confusion where I didn't hit my goal and a few more towards the end of the month, … Continue reading (Personal) Accountability Report, February 2017
(Buddhism) Right Mindfulness
Mindfulness is one of the cornerstones of Buddhist thought. In order to realize your enlightenment, you must see it just as it is, through direct experience unfiltered by emotion or judgement. What's really interesting to me about this is that it's possible to have these moments where everything seems to click and you have this … Continue reading (Buddhism) Right Mindfulness
(Personal) Retaining Mindfulness Under Stress
So far this year has been an obstacle course, as I've mentioned a few times here. Work has flared up significantly as I shift positions and my company makes fairly major changes on an organizational and product level; priorities have been shuffled accordingly, and even though I'm getting better at juggling many things at once … Continue reading (Personal) Retaining Mindfulness Under Stress
(Personal) Spiritual Appropriation: Lent
Today is the first day of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and contemplation for those of us who practice Christianity. It begins with Ash Wednesday, where Christians are marked with the ashes of palm leaves that had been blessed during last year's Palm Sunday and told "From dust you are, and to dust you … Continue reading (Personal) Spiritual Appropriation: Lent
Further Confusion 2016!
Folks, it's that time again -- the time when downtown San Jose is suddenly flooded with bizarre people descending onto the Convention Center to engage their weird hobby. The volleyball girls are back! Oh, and also Further Confusion is coming up this weekend. Of course I'll be there -- just look for the portly black … Continue reading Further Confusion 2016!
(Personal) Three Pounds of Flax
A monk asked Tozan when he was weighing some flax: "What is Buddha?" Tozan said: "This flax weighs three pounds." It is so impossibly hard to do one thing at a time in this day and age. As I sit to write this, I'm thinking about a number of other things -- the 500 words … Continue reading (Personal) Three Pounds of Flax
Combatting Mindlessness with Personal Myth
When I'm not pretending to be a giant rabbit who writes fiction on the Internet, I work at a services company where I deal with customers all day. The nature of our business is such that people often mistakenly believe we're responsible for things that we aren't, so it's not uncommon for me to get … Continue reading Combatting Mindlessness with Personal Myth
From the Desk of Jakebe T. Rabbit 