Present Still

Do you believe your success, your happiness, and even the thoughts appearing in your mind right now are all created by you ? Most of us live that way. When things go well, we credit ourselves. When they don't, we blame ourselves entirely. But listen to the teachings of Ven. Beopsang , and that belief starts to wobble. Everything that happens in our lives isn't something we create alone. It arises out of countless conditions and connections coming together .  And if you were never fully in control to begin with — that might actually be a relief to hear. Photo by the author The Second Arrow Hurts More Than the First When pain shows up in the body, we rarely experience just the pain. What if this turns into something serious? What if it gets worse from here? The worry spirals, and the suffering grows with it.  But pain and suffering aren't the same thing.  Pain is simply what's happening.  It's the fear and the story we wrap around it that turn into suffering . The Bud...

"You have your father's face. Your mother's hands." We grow up hearing words like these. Comparison starts the moment we're born. Then somewhere along the way, we see someone who seems to be doing better than us, and something in us deflates.  Suddenly, everything we have feels smaller than it did a moment ago. But has anything actually changed in our lives? Our bank balance is the same. Our home is the same size it was yesterday. And yet, after seeing someone else's life, ours suddenly feels like it isn't enough. Photo by the author Is the Story of Our Life Really the Truth?  We say things like this all the time: "This is the life I've lived." "My life feels like a failure." "I've fallen behind everyone else." But according to Ven. Beopsang , what we call "my life" is often less a fact and more a story — one stitched together by the mind. We remember things that happened to us, and we attach meaning to them....

On the subway ride home, there's nothing worth looking at.  So why does your hand reach for your phone anyway? Probably the news. Or a social feed. Or a notification, or a message waiting to be answered. You scroll without really thinking, and somewhere along the way, a hollow feeling settles in. Nothing actually happened.  So why do you feel this way? Photo by the author A while back, I tried something. I held a string of prayer beads and spent a day counting every thought that crossed my mind. The result caught me off guard. The moment something entered through my eyes or ears, a thought followed.  Then a feeling attached itself to that thought.  All of it happening much faster than I could control. I'd see something. Hear something. A thought would rise. An emotion would latch onto it. And before I knew it, I'd already drifted into the next thought. I only meant to count my thoughts. Instead, I stumbled onto two things I hadn't expected. I was far more susceptible...

You keep up your gym routine. But what about your mind? One offhand comment can ruin your whole day. A small, forgettable thing can keep you tossing and turning at night.  Sometimes anxiety creeps in for no reason at all. When this happens, we usually shrug it off. Must be stress. But have you ever considered something else?  Your mind works like a muscle. Leave it unused, and it weakens. Photo by the author About 2,600 years ago, the Buddha offered a way to steady the mind: practice . The word "practice" can feel distant. It conjures images of temples, cross-legged meditation, something reserved for the spiritually devoted. But practice isn't grand or complicated. It fits into ordinary life. Practice Is Just Training — Mindfulness Is a Habit Building physical strength takes small, daily effort. Building mental strength works the same way.  You just need a few minutes each day to check in with your own mind. That's where practice begins. It's lighter and simpler...

How does your mind feel right now? Maybe something upset you earlier today, and it's still nagging at you tonight.  Or maybe you were perfectly calm a moment ago, and then you scrolled through social media and suddenly felt uneasy for no clear reason. An ad about health or money flashes across your screen, and your mind starts spinning: Am I okay? What if I get sick? What if I run out of money? Before you know it, you're lost in a spiral of worry about things that haven't even happened. We worry about a future that hasn't arrived yet, and in doing so, we lose the present moment entirely. If your mind feels anxious right now, as you're reading this, try simply noticing it : Ah, there's anxiety here.  You don't need to push it away or fight it.  Just watch it. Photo by the author I'm practicing this same thing right now, as I write. This morning I heard some troubling news, and waves of anxiety kept rising in me.  I'd already written most of this pie...