I’ve tried on occasion to point to insights about the observer and awareness through blogging, books, and instagram posts. I find these ideas particularly powerful and transformative, so I wanted to share two YouTube videos I stumbled across which do a particularly great job at explaining the stages of thinking and what lies beyond thought. … Read more
This week’s self-inquiry goes deep into understanding thought and the true nature of awareness. It requires space and attention to digest properly. It’s two weeks’ worth of content combined into one. I guess I had a lot to write about on these subjects! At the end, I also share some questions for self-examination as well … Read more
I want to point to just a handful of my favorite conversations from the Waking Up app. I’m not sponsored or anything like that. I just think it’s a great resource. Thanks goes to Sam Harris for creating such a valuable channel. If you’re interested in diving deep into self-understanding through the lens of meditation, … Read more
Back when I attended ten-day silent meditation retreats, I once met a man named Matt. Matt was a young man but an old student, experience which earned him a cushion at the front of the class. A newer student at the time, I sat in the back. I remember peeking around the Great Hall during … Read more
After three years of writing, I recently released my second book, True Nature.The art isn’t finished—I could have kept working on it for years.But there comes a time when something grabs ahold of us and says,You’ve held onto this for way too long.It’s time to let it go. Please, for your own sanity. I told … Read more
These last four years, I’ve kept a daily meditation practice inspired by my first vipassana meditation course in 2016. Here, I’ll discuss my personal experience with the technique, some important hindrances to manage on your path, and more recently, how I’m overcoming these hindrances by opening up to new ways of thinking and being. I … Read more
It is April of 2015, in the days leading up to a 2,650-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, when something called Vipassana is brought to my attention by my college fraternity brother and soon-to-be hiking partner, Bradley. He begins to explain these ten-day meditation retreats. My eyebrow raises. I think of meditation as a … Read more
You’ve reached a point in your life where you’re looking for change. You wish to create space for something new. Maybe a big decision looms but you aren’t sure what to do. Maybe you‘re a meditator and you’ve become too dependent on formal retreat centers and wish to regain your independence and sit outside in … Read more
In the Buddhist teaching, there are three primary characteristics of existence: impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and no-self. I’ve experienced these characteristics to varying depths and degrees in my practice of Vipassana, a body-scanning meditation technique and a Pali word meaning “to see clearly,” but no-self is far and away the most elusive insight of the bunch. No-self … Read more
This post was written on October 22, 2017. I recently returned from a ten-day meditation retreat. I walked away from the retreat with important reminders and new experiences. I gathered intellectual knowledge of the teachings. I was reminded of how to practice the technique properly. I gained experiential wisdom and insight into the inner-workings of the mind … Read more