Our lives, as they are, are less than half of what they are intended to be. We can recognize that something is clearly missing. Often, even though we come up with: "It's him," "It's her," "It's this," or "It's that" which is clearly missing, it turns out that we may even get these things, and things still seem to be missing in our lives...

The anticipation of something desirable is always sweet in conception, which would be great if it weren't for a certain fact about the nature of longing itself: it appears within us, at first, by itself, bringing with it the promise of just what we need to make everything right. But appearances are not always what they seem; for standing directly behind it, as it were...

We have a nature that thinks about itself -- a nature that weighs itself on a scale that our culture has created and our thoughts have unconsciously adopted. Unexamined, this mind is a virtual torture device, keeping us locked within its own limitations. In the absence of practical thought (the only right capacity of the mind), there is always some painful reaction...

Surely we've known certain "perfect" moments in our lives. But who hasn't been in the middle of a dream vacation, without a care in the world, when--kaboom! In spite of the abundance around us, we're suddenly negative, deeply distressed simply because something or someone fails to please us according to our expectations! Or how about those moments when--regardless of how many of our friends...

Darkness, in whatever form we experience it -- from a simple black, starless night, to a depressed thought or feeling -- only exists in the absence of light.

Much of our time is spent identifying the so-called cause of our discontented states, and the rest of our time is taken up trying to change our unwanted situations into what we imagine will better suit our pleasure. Of course this description puts a kind of positive spin on what amounts to one's never-ending whirl of wishes, but the facts are that these dreams of a better time to come do not o...

There is one essential reason why there is so much constant heartache and war on this earth, and why conflict has continued as it has down through the ages. The answer may surprise you. We do not understand our own pain -- our suffering. Six-and-a-half billion human beings live in ignorance of their pain. But this is not to say that we live pain-free. In fact, without exception, human beings...

What happens in the moment where life throws something at us, or nothing goes as we had planned? We know what happens. Instant negativity! We become disgruntled. Unhappiness over what is unwanted ruins the day. Why? Because now we're resisting the event, wanting nothing to do with it. And how many possibilities do we have in such moments when we resist life like this? None . . . except to...

Blaming conflict-filled feelings on any condition, or person, outside of yourself is like getting angry at your shoes for being laced too tight. Most men and women recognize the need for a healthy balanced diet because good eating habits nourish the body. Good nutrition helps keep us agile and strong. And we also like to learn new skills to expand our interests. Challenging mental activities...

Why do we accept so much unhappiness in our lives today? If you think this supposition is untrue, ask yourself why people spend so much time seeking ways to distract themselves with empty pleasures? Or why so many people push themselves along one spiritual path after another, blindly hoping that something will happen to mitigate their sense of...

Who struggles to find a way "in" Without a sense of being left "out?" Who searches for new confidence, That isn't filled with lingering doubt? Who could resent another's joy That doesn't feel unjustly denied? And who chases what glitters in life, That isn't dull or tarnished inside?...

Until we realize that continually identifying with our own conflicting desires about how to win peace of mind is like using a cannon blast to light a candle, we will only remain at war within ourselves -- all the while blaming the world around us for its insensitive inability to grant us that imagined peace we so desperately seek! Let's illuminate, by example, a few of these conflicting desir...