As awakening deepens, I notice I have a number of favorite tools. They really are all the same—they all come down to noticing. But it can help to come at this from various angles. The tool I rely on the most is releasing. Because more often than not what is between me and Truth is [...]

The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater [...]

Notes to self. Get in the flow of Awakening: There is no end-game. It’s an ever-going process. However, there are thresholds, and with some practice, we can be in the flow of awakening, where it will continue to ebb and flow, go forward and recede, on its own, and the movement will be towards a [...]

When I recognized I was in a “spiritual depression”, I decided I would just let it be. Instead of running after the conventional self-help solutions, what if I just allowed, and continued to rest in awareness, and continued to release? What if I just allowed and watched? What might I learn? What I learned from [...]

Spiritual awakening doesn’t happen because you master some spiritual technique. There are lots of skillful meditators who are not awake. Awakening happens when you stop bullshitting yourself into continual nonawakening. It’s very easy to use disciplines to avoid reality rather than to encounter it. A true spirituality will have you continually facing your illusions and [...]

Early 2007ish. A relationship is over. Pain. A job is over. Deep in depression. Overweight. Drinking. Giving up. Acceptance. A small shift. Observing the mind, observing thought. Effort. Clever and useless revelations. The year of High energy, high activity. Traveling. Awakening is now far more important than security, approval, or control. A settling. Can’t find [...]

At the beach in the summer, a glorious hot morning, the sunshine on my shoulders reminds me the universe is benign and warm. The soft crunch of hot sand oozing up through my toes reminds me of the connectedness of everything, bringing me right down to mother earth. Everyone at the beach is always happy, [...]

Finding Answers Last week I wrote about how adversity in my life brought me to awakening about three years ago, and not surprisingly, the article struck a chord with many. Most of us are rather too familiar with discontent. I’ve been through many cycles of examining my life-situation, as I’m sure you have too.  And [...]

Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it… it’s just easier if you do… –Byron Katie Sooner or later, we all face the essential question: what is life about? On the exterior, my life [...]

“Observe the peculiar pleasure you derive from being unhappy. Observe the compulsion to talk or think about it.” -Eckhart Tolle Have you noticed? We want to be free of pain, but there is a part of us that which takes a peculiar pleasure from reveling in suffering. I had two decades of depression and anxiety [...]