A Blog About Mindfulness, Meditation & Well-Being
About 2000 years ago, the religious leaders in a minor corner of the Roman Empire noticed a strange and disturbing development. A certain precocious young man was going about the country trash-talking them. He claimed they were hypocrites who didn't practice what they preached. He said they just painted their faces white to pretend they [...]
It was like the internet had just vomited all over my screen. I'd just had a popular Youtuber recommended to me. Apparently he had spoken well in the past on topics such as well-being and inspiration. Sure, he came on a little strong at times, I was told, but generally he gave a motivating and [...]
There's a certain thought experiment that has been disturbing me for a while now. When I first heard it, years ago, I thought it was interesting but mostly theoretical and irrelevant. Now I think it throws a floodlight onto what might well become a defining crisis of the twenty-first century. In 1974, philosopher Robert Nozick [...]
Apparently there's no torture more terrible to the gods' imagination than pointless, endless, meaningless labour. For trying to cheat death, the mythical Greek figure Sisyphus was condemned by the gods to a cruel and unusual punishment: he had to push a boulder up a mountain, yet the moment the boulder reached the top it would [...]
There's a certain creepy conversation that I keep falling into. It happens whenever the topic of human nature comes up, and it usually goes like this: Other Person: "I think it's just human nature to be selfish, violent and cruel." Me: "Why?" Other Person (stunned that I even asked): "What planet are you living on? [...]
Imagine: You have been given a chance to recreate society completely from scratch. Yes, you personally have to devise a set of principles by which we will all live. But there's a catch: You don't get to know who you will be in this society. You don't know if you will be rich or poor, [...]
You and your family board a plane. As the plane takes off, something strange starts to happen. The passengers jump out of their seats and start removing or damaging ever-increasing portions of the plane itself: engine, wings, fuel pumps, navigation, electrical, windows, steering, etc. Understandably, you start to panic. You rush over to the passengers [...]
Have you ever considered that one of your biggest problems might be your own brain? Not because there's anything wrong with you, per se, but because there's something off about the way we're hardwired as a species. The problem is that the human brain didn't evolve over millions of years to be happy, it evolved [...]
I'm sure you've been there before. You really wanted to achieve that goal. You wanted to pass your course, get that degree, buy that car, score that job, travel the world. Whatever it was, you knew that as soon as you achieved it you would have "made it." You would finally be happy. Then you [...]
Bring your attention to your breath? Focus on body sensations? Be in the present moment? What on earth could possibly be more boring? I remember thinking this when I first heard about meditation techniques as a child. I was into fantasy novels and video games; my head didn't want to be in the present moment, [...]
Coming Back to Where You Are 