Although I suffered from severe depression, I didn’t call it that for most of the several years I was in and out of it. I thought depression was for lethargic people who stayed in bed all day. But my pain was as sharp as an ice pick. Restless in the extreme, I paced...
I have experienced illness, heartbreak, aging, and disability. As a Black, elder, cis-gendered woman, I live with the trauma of social oppression on a daily basis. Like many of us, I’m also profoundly disturbed by the current suffering in the world. In these troubled...
When I first started teaching, I used a traditional style, focusing on theory and emphasizing fine distinctions from traditional texts. Most students were well-educated, intellectually grasping the meaning and asking sharp questions. I thought, Wow, these people are...
My birth was not a celebrated and magical event. My parents’ relationship had always been rocky and, sadly, it completely unraveled during my mother’s pregnancy with me. We lived in Bellflower, California, a low-income neighborhood between Long Beach and Compton, in...
‘All Buddha’s teachings end up here.’ Zen Graffiti
When someone we know goes through an illness or is recovering from an injury, there's really nothing we can do except care for them in a way that is possible for us. And unless we are part of their immediate family, we can't really participate in the regular...
‘I warn you not to use those exercises for meditation on quietude or for keeping the mind a blank.’ Hui Neng
Wanting to know where eggs came from, the five-year-old Jane Goodall ensconced herself for hours in a henhouse, oblivious to the fact that her family was worriedly looking for her. But the little girl didn’t get scolded when she got home. Her mother saw how excited...
Melvin McLeod: Your newest book is called The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness. So before we get to the question we all want the answer to—what actually makes us happy?—tell us about the famed study of human happiness you...
1. Choose a quiet and uplifted place to do your meditation practice. Sit cross-legged on a meditation cushion, or if that’s difficult, sit on a straight-backed chair with your feet flat on the floor, without leaning against the back of the chair. 2. Place your hands...