The monster inside vs the fear of talking about it
When it’s scary to bring up what’s going on for you, yet you see the suffering of the voices in your head. Four suggestions you can try to get things moving.
March 17, 2018
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Clear Sky Blog
How to use mindfulness when you can’t sleep
Suddenly I was wide awake. With dread, I looked over at the clock on the nightstand, hoping I wouldn’t see what I knew I would…1:30 a.m.! I’d been asleep for less than three hours, and if this night was like all the nights of the past six months, it meant I was awake for the
March 12, 2018
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I can’t tell my partner how I’m feeling: How honest communication saved my relationship
“I’m sleeping somewhere else tonight.” As I spoke those words, my eyes locked on the road and my mind scrambled to figure out where I was going to stay. Knowing where I’d sleep didn’t matter in the moment though, what mattered was proving to my partner that they couldn’t hurt me. For months, my partner
March 4, 2018
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Planning a short meditation retreat? Why balance matters
What we learned from people coming here to do meditation retreats People often come here for a few days or a week to do a meditation retreat in a cabin. Over time, we heard many of them say how they struggled to simply meditate all day, suddenly. And it’s not surprising. Often, retreatants book meditation
February 24, 2018
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Five reasons your meditation or spiritual practice might not be going the way you’d like – part 2
You can find Part 1 of this blog here. [Quick Recap – we’re looking at areas that can make our whole life into a supportive container that helps our fluency, in whatever we’re trying to learn. We need this container, whether we’re talking about the Russian language, spiritual growth, a meditation practice, or living
February 18, 2018
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Five reasons your meditation or spiritual practice might not be going the way you’d like
(Part 1) I don’t know about you, but I’d say my spiritual progress has had both ups and, well I won’t say downs, I’ll say plateaus. Now that I think about it, just when I’ve felt like I’m struggling most, that’s often when my teachers have commented how well I’m doing. So who am I
February 11, 2018
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Too busy to eat healthily or cook for yourself?
Cooking for yourself seems like a lot of energy out sometimes. I mean, a meal’s over just like that, and then you’re back at the sink, washing up. Personally, I get way more motivated cooking for a group. I might not be your average person, mind you, because I did live at a retreat center
January 29, 2018
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Wishing you a wonderful 2018
As we draw near the end of the year we’d like to take this opportunity to wish you the very best for 2018. If you’re a spiritual explorer looking forward to 2018 and you want to bring your daily life more into line with your spiritual life, we think you’ll very much enjoy what we’ve
December 27, 2017
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Ignite My Spiritual Life? Really?
Lately, you’ve been hearing from us about our online course and Five Principles, and we have a question for you: Do our five principles sound like they’re going to “Ignite Your Spiritual Life?” After all, the second principle talks about structure and routine, and how embracing them actually creates more freedom. Then, the fourth one
April 8, 2017
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A question of compassion – what would you do?
It’s not always easy to know what compassion looks like I got an opportunity to practice compassionate speech when I was in a little shop in a village in England several years ago. It was the kind of shop I’d call a “newsagent” – think “corner store” if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
November 21, 2016
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How’s your concentration?
Mindfulness and awareness are key. Yet, when I’m hitting a golf ball, I really don’t care about anything else. Is that a bad thing? Surely being able to focus all my attention on what I’m doing is good. When I concentrate, and get really absorbed, that leads to bliss. My concentration helps me pay attention to detail. So, what if
July 16, 2016
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Is this why you can’t get it off your mind?
My first meditation retreat was going really well. The whole space – a complex below a temple – was set up to support new meditators. Each day we enjoyed two meals, a short morning class, and the use of two meditation halls. We were in silent retreat except for a daily interview with a teacher,
June 20, 2016
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