Many of us find it difficult to manage our technology habits given the omnipresent temptation for distraction in the digital age. Sure, each of us can try our best to be mindful in the moment and try to control the impulse to scroll, swipe, or click our way to satisfaction, but what about the technology companies that deliberately design their…
Welcome to episode eleven of the Climate, Mind and Behavior Podcast. Each episode, we’ll explore groundbreaking intersections between climate change, resilience, contemplative practice and human behavior. Deep inside an arctic mountain on a remote island off Norway is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Known by many as a frozen “Garden of Eden” and “Noah’s Ark” of plant life, it’s a bunker filled…
On a Monday a few weeks ago, a friend of mine texted me to cancel our dinner plans scheduled for later in the week. I was instantly relieved—not because I had been actively dreading our plan, but because I, like so many of us, consistently feel too busy, overtaxed, and chronically stressed. Who doesn’t want an unexpected free night at…
You are likely familiar with the idea that you can feel too much of the suffering of others. This is sometimes called “burnout,” a word that was coined in the 1970s. But it’s not a new insight; the idea has many origins, including, to my surprise, in Buddhist theology. I first learned this from a discussion I had with Matthieu…
A recent piece in The New York Times Magazine, “One Man’s Quest to Change the Way We Die,” featured the life and work of B.J. Miller, a hospice and palliative medicine physician. In the video above, Dr. Miller and Dr. Justin Burke explore the aesthetic dimension of end-of-life care at the 2014 Buddhist Contemplative Care Symposium, co-presented by the Garrison Institute…
Cynthia Bourgeault is leading an upcoming retreat at the Garrison Institute entitled “Centering Prayer and Nondual Awakening” on March 24 – 29, 2017. The below is an edited excerpt from her new book, The Heart of Centering Prayer: Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice. Learning Centering Prayer begins with unlearning most of what you think meditation is all about. Centering…
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. –Martin Luther King Policies concerning climate change and ecology at the federal level are likely to be highly contentious over the next few years. During the controversies ahead, it will be easy, tempting even, to objectify those who don’t “get” the facts of climate change, to see them as “enemies,”…
Noticing a lack of of access to yoga, mindfulness, and other holistic forms of self-care in their Baltimore neighborhood, brothers Ali and Atman Smith and Andres Gonzalez started the Holistic Life Foundation (HLF) in 2001 with a mission to bring these kinds of practices to people in underserved communities. In an upcoming retreat at the Garrison Institute, “People Who Care for…