Compulsive thinking : a Zen perspective. What is it ? It is our  mind’s unchosen and unstoppable  activity that modern psychology calls default-mode rumination or automatic unwanted thought. How Zen sees thoughts:  1- Zen sees thinking as a natural ongoing function, like digestion. It  cannot be stopped. The problems with our thoughts are the following: […]

The parable of the 2 arrows: How the Buddha is using this metaphor  to explain the difference between pain and suffering.  Meaning of the parable: The first arrow is the unavoidable pain caused by ongoing external factors. The following second arrow is the self- induced suffering triggered by our reactive emotional mind. If the initial […]

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Training your body, mind and heart while under stress  Stressors are everywhere, permanent, either acute i.e. loss of a loved one or chronic such as guilt They are defined as an event being perceived as generating negativities of all sorts.They consciously affect our body, mind and social interactions when they are acute, but, when they […]

Stress and stressors To understand the effectiveness of mindfulness-based meditation in dealing with stress, it is important to understand in detail what stress and stressors are, and what they do. Next week we will talk about therapeutic approaches using body scanning, mind scanning, and meditation.  What is stress? The term  “stress” was coined for the […]