A Quiet Mind

In this podcast, I talk about how to achieve self-love through the process of self-awareness. I delve into Shadow Side work and how to embrace our suffering and pain while acknowledging our compassion and empathy. We take the pathless path to awaken by embracing our so-called differences and traits. We are creators and makers that can give credit to the muse and free ourselves from the bondage of confusion and stagnation. Be love. Be well. My Patreon page My TikTok

Thousands of years ago our ancestor's curiosity about the afterlife led them to discover the process we call meditation...maybe? This is my theory about the origins of meditation and our exploration into the unknown forces that generate our reality. Through the method of self Inquiry can we explore beyond the known and into dip the void of no return? If we know that we're not our thoughts, feelings, or emotions, then who are we? We can observe the arising of the "I" in the mind as just a thought, just an idea. Who am I? What happens when I die? Am I a soul? These are a few questions that occur often in the podcast and I explore them once again with a unique concept that you may find interesting. My Patreon page My TikTok

Do you have an inner voice that makes you feel lousy or anxious? Learn to catch yourself before reacting to preprogrammed, unconscious reactions spurred on by invasive, destructive thoughts. In this podcast, I relate some concepts I’ve uncovered to help recognize and combat the unconscious mind’s ability to affect our emotions. I like to call it, “The Great Pause.” The great pause is where you’ve caught yourself, you’ve paused before being swept away by dark thoughts and feelings. My Patreon page My TikTok

This podcast is about Tonglen (Tong lin) meditation. I talk about how I use the practice to relieve anxiety, stress, anger, and frustration. This isn’t about by-passing reality or having wishy thinking, this is about inviting in the pain and suffering of all beings and seeing it transformed into love, light, and healing. The world seems like it’s unbalanced, unfair, and brutal at times and this practice helps me to change my thinking and cultivate a space of compassion and empathy. I encourage you to look up Tonglen for yourself, my practice is only loosely based on an ancient and complicated practice. The book I mention is Thomas E. Mails, “Fools Crow Wisdom and Power,” the teachings of Frank Fools Crow, ceremonial chief of the Teton Sioux. My Patreon page My TikTok

After almost thirty years of meditation I talk about the four things that I wished I knew sooner about meditation. What to expect when practicing zazen. What kind of changes I may experience during my spiritual journey. How mindfulness isn’t just about becoming a more productive cog in the wheel. The fact that I might be confronted with traumas, pain and suffering that I may have buried in my past. Lastly, that powerful spiritual experiences aren’t the goal of meditation, that embracing the mundane and ordinary is an organic outcome of the practice. Here’s a link to my first podcast called Acceptance: http://www.aquietmind.com/?s=acceptance Here’s the link to Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aquietmind Here’s the link to TikTok link: https://www.tiktok.com/@a_quiet_mind

A talk about the ground of being, emptiness and the primordial state of being. Kicking ourselves out of any nest of supposed understanding we may have reached. Exiting the zero space of the non dual abiding. Compassion and empathy can pull us out of the bliss bunny ride. The perfect present is a part of our conciseness. We're not adding anything to our understanding. Instead, we're rediscovering what already exists within us all. My Patreon page My TikTok

This podcast is about the amazing, beautiful, and mysterious world we live in and how we're a part of it. My Patreon page My TikTok

This podcast talks about walking meditation, zazen, mindfulness and nature as teacher and guide. One of the best ways to support the podcast is to give us a five star review on iTunes. My Patreon Page

This podcast talks about practices that open the heart and promote compassion and empathy. One of the best ways to support the podcast is to give us a five star review on iTunes. My Patreon Page

In this podcast, I give a few tips and tricks on how to tighten up your practice and focus on your posture.

In the podcast I'm reviewing problems and stumbling blocks that come up before and during meditation practice.

In this podcast, we look at how an inner dialog can create suffering and pain by imagining what other people may be thinking about us.

In this podcast we ponder the question, If I stop thinking will there still be a “me?”

In this podcast we go further into how to quiet the mind by watching our thoughts during daily activities and embracing feelings and emotions.

In this podcast we take a look at how to quiet the mind by watching our thoughts during daily activities.

In this episode we look into ways to overcome fear in the time of covid-19

Some tools for breaking through the veil of separateness.

A podcast that challenges what it means to be "awake"

Embracing the wacky, craziness that is our world.

A podcast about nothing and no one.

This podcast talks about the perennial wisdom and how it remains free to everyone.

In this podcast I take a look at the big questions yet again. Who am I? What am I? Can I become enlightened? Will I ever be happy, whole and complete? How do I get rind of discontent, desire and confusion. It's easy really, just lose yourself.

In this episode of A Quiet Mind I will be smashing some paradigms of spirituality, enlightenment and do-goodery.

Take a walk in the woods.

There's no "doing" necessary to be YOU.

A guided meditation using the sounds of nature to calm the mind

Life is difficult. There is pain and suffering and at times there is a deep misery or depression beyond our control. Sometimes we fail and sometimes the world just kicks our ass. It's ok to fail, forget, blow it, lose it and fall. To move forward we must allow ourselves to look the fool, to trip up and make mistakes. The saying goes, fall six times and get up seven but no one tells you how long you can stay down. I say, stay down as long as you need to and you'll know when to get back up.

Don't worry so much.Just relax.You're only doing the best you can.Fully embrace every aspect of who you are right now.Rest in being here right now.

Once upon a time there was a thought, and the thought was, "a quiet mind is all you need." A quiet mind is all anyone needs to feel happy, peaceful, whole and complete. If your mind just stops and becomes still, what remains? It’s simple really and anyone can see this. What remains is quiet and quiet by its very nature is peaceful and peace is nice. Peace feels good, it feels serene, and who doesn't like serene?

Do you have lizard brain behind the wheel? Scared? Fearful? Angry? Defensive? This podcast addresses our survival instinct we may have while driving and how we can evolve beyond a scared reptile into a calm, kind and compassionate traveler. Know the warning signs of lizard brain driving:

It's Monday morning and you're late again. You're stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and losing it. That jerk in the convertible just cut you off and that crazy person behind you is ridding your ass.

When the attachment to thoughts subsides our mind naturally gets quiet and we begin to experience gaps between thoughts. In these gaps we can hear the soft -spoken voice of the heart.

In every moment there is the opportunity to see that your true nature is happiness. There is no need to seek for what is already yours. The treasure is within you.

If you want to know the truth about who you really are and what this is really all about you have to be willing to give up the old methods, to reach beyond thought and thinking mind and to take the dive into the unknown.

Return to the one that is not touched by the circumstances of the world. The one that lives in this world but not of this world. Drop the meditator, drop the form and just sit without any rigid model. There is no reconnection or creation of an experience or paradigm, it's ordinary and easy to do.

Do you have a barking dog mind?

When we use our breath to come home and check in we can catch ourselves before we use a tactic, habit or substance to escape the rat mind. When we catch ourselves before we engage in that habit we can instill this practice, the practice or activity just observing. Observing silently, without judgment and letting the thoughts pass by. Try sitting today for just two minutes. If your mind say's it's bored, then just sit there and be as bored as you can. Do boredom all the way. If your mind wont stop spinning, just let it spin and don't try to do a thing. Do nothing all the way everyday for just a few minutes.There is no need to have a formal meditation practice, just sit quietly, watch, listen and breath.

There is nothing to discover. There is nothing to remove. There is nothing to add.There is nothing to see.

If you think about it we were never taught to breath, isn’t that strange? We have been living out our whole lives without the basic instructions on how to breathe properly. Isn’t that shocking? Most of us breathe like little chipmunks that are being chased by Mr. Twinkles the neighborhood cat. That type of breathing is fight or flight, or panic breathing. We are all running from Mr. Twinkles in our own way throughout the day.

Here are the four questions we asked Mallika Chopra.

Be curious, be daring, be open. Empty your cup and see what happens.

I'm jumping in and taking you with me! Join me on the journey of following your heart's desire. Let's step into the unknown together and take the leap of faith. In this podcast we talk about; Embracing your own inner teacher/guide and waking up to your full potential. We create an experiment to see what happens when we turn around 180 degrees and go in the direction we are guided to go. Embracing the opportunity to wake up and see our true self. The void we feel. The disconnect is nothing more than a thought or thoughts arising that we decide to hook in to, give meaning to, embellish and create the story we call 'self' We look at being content, happy and peaceful by dropping the concept that something from the outside will make us whole. (If only I could change such and such about myself, I could feel good and be happy.)

Are you following your heart's desire? How do you know that it's you heart that is speaking to you? Is it just more mind stuff, or is there something driving you beside your ego and your desires. This podcast features an interview with Jonathan Mead from Illuminated Mind.

The practice of gratitude is honed over time with patience and humility at its’ core. A good way to experience this practice is bowing in gratitude. This doesn’t have to be the physical act of bowing (but that helps); you can just bow in your mind. When you see something arising in the mind where you see yourself stuck and desiring something you don’t have, stop and bow to what you already have. If you find yourself in the old habit of grumbling, complaining or finding fault in something, stop and find something to be grateful for. Look around you at those that are in need and give something to them. The ego resists this practice so we know we are chipping away at something of substance. I bow to you all.

I had always seen success as money, cars, big houses and fame.I lived most of my life in pursuit of all of these material things and it wasn't until I had many life changing experiences that my opinions on what success was dramatically altered.One of these life changing experiences happened while living on the Big Island of Hawaii and I relate that story in this podcast. So do we need a life altering experience to change the way we see things? Yes I believe sometimes we do. How can we have a life altering experience? Stay open and don't be afraid to look deeply into your heart. Assess your life daily and see where you can change current beliefs and opinions to bring about more compassion and empathy. Open yourself to new ways of thinking and seeing. Sit quietly on a daily basis. It is in solitude that we can begin to open to a new way of looking at our ourselves and our intention.

>Have you noticed yourself Tweet-ing and Facebook-ing in social situations to avoid talking and interacting with people? I'm constantly observing people in line at the store, at the airport, on a plane and in the elevator engaged with their device. We are immersing ourselves in a medium that is helping to create social barriers with our fellow beings. A new distraction that keeps us from meeting our true self in the form of those around us that manifests as our peers.Our peers can represent aspects of ourselves we may be having trouble accepting and we don't want to confront that because it's uncomfortable.

How can we obtain that which we already have? Should we drop the goal of obtaining peace as a result of our meditation practice? Can we just sit without wanting something to happen and just be with what is? Having a gaining idea can lead us into a circle of suffering, pain and confusion. Nothing is permanent, so trying to reach a state of permanent peace is an unreachable goal. Can we accept that we will never have a continuous, blissful state of oneness? Can we call off the search and see that the thing we are looking for is right here, right now, in this moment? It can be nowhere else but here because only this moment exists. Everything else is only thought.

Don't be fooled by the carrot life is dangling before you. That which you seek is inside of you waiting to be discovered. There is no need to look outside yourself for happiness, love, bliss or completeness; everything that you seek, you already possess. Look no further than your next breath.

Are you a spiritual seeker? Do you want to control your own destiny, the universe or just your dog? This podcast may have the answers that you seek.

In our daily lives we have so much distraction and stimulation that we barely have the time to feel. What do I mean by feel? Feeling our pain, loss heartache, frustration anger etc. Our society is built up in a way that we don't have the time that we need to get in touch with our emotions.