Swimming and paddling gave me an idea I think you should ponder on

Whatever happens during the day or the week, here are my six non-negotiable, do-at-all-cost self-care practices.

Study philosophy, then use it.

Schedule your priorities. If you're like me, your priority will be spending quality time with the people you love, then schedule that in your calendar too!

Don't meditate with the desire to be awakened. Meditation, and maybe, you will be awaken

How you react to events around you shows who you really are.

"I think; therefore, I lose touch with who I really am."

An important step towards enlightenment and awakening.

Like a flower comes from a tree, we, people, come from the world. We are not a lost piece of the puzzle, somewhere at the back of the cupboard. Nature doesn't have independent parts of a puzzle. All components are interdependent on one another.

Why I quit TM and how letting go of that practice led me to experience true awakening

Here is a few ways to create unshakeable true joy, love, and happiness.

As Russia invades Ukraine, let us reflect on war, and the curse of the human condition.

Like with all virtues and in all things of life, we must find a balance.

Are you craving better, more meaningful relationships? That's great. We, humans, need these connections; we need to feel part of something.

Tell a fish that water is part oxygen part hydrogen and it will die of laughter

Last night, for some reason unknown, this thought came into my head: if I was put in a position where I could save a human being, or save another animal, say a whale or a dolphin, which would I try to save?

"Many are harmed by fear itself, and many may have come to their fate while dreading fate" - Seneca in Oedipus.

"To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."-- William Shakespeare - Hamlet

In this article, I would like to talk about self-esteem and how you can increase your own, creating unshakeable self-confidence in the process.

Judo = the easy way. Release resistance to find peace

As we prepare for a new week, I would like to share with you a few thoughts on the polarities of life, and how you can work on finding Ch'an (Zen) or your centre.

Exercise is an anti-depressant drug... a healthier and cheaper one.

"The master said, if out of the three hundred songs I had to take one phrase to cover all my teachings, I would say 'Let there be no evil in your thoughts."

You can't be envious and happy at the same time. People who pay too much attention to social comparisons find themselves chronically vulnerable, threatened, and insecure.

"... working toward a meaningful life goal is one of the most important strategies for becoming lastingly happier."

I am often asked about manifestation. How to, and does it work. I am not quite sure why i get so many of these questions on the law of attraction. Maybe it is because I teach meditation, and that therefore I go into the woo woo and esoteric category? Probably... Here is my response

I once heard that anger is like wanting to get rid of rats by eating rat poison and hoping it will kill them...

Let us not confuse self-love with self-care.

In this article, I reflect on purpose, on false societal hierarchies and on aiming at service when contemplating on our purpose.

The Transcendental Meditation course is not only extremely expensive, but it also claims that it is the best and only way to meditate. This is of course, not true. I regret doing the TM course, and here is why.

The average person will be fine in watching 28 hours of television per week, but they have no time to study philosophy and improve their lives.

But not all decisions are equal. The decision to filter time-consuming, non-essential tasks and events is one of the critical decisions to make that you should not avoid. The alternative is going to default and saying yes or no to everything and anything. Instead, decide what is essential to do, and do only that.

This was not meant to be a blog article, but rather a personal contemplation on forgiving my parents. This is indeed a question that many of us ask ourselves: Should I forgive my parents? In this contemplation, we try to tap into or realization of Ego, in order to establish how forgiveness should happen, and indeed, if it should happen.

“Aren’t you ashamed to reserve for yourself only the remnants of your life and to dedicate to wisdom only that time can’t be directed to business?”

“The human being is born with an inclination toward virtue.” Marcus Aurelius

“Dig deep within yourself, for there is a fountain of goodness ever ready to flow if you will keep digging” — Marcus Aurelius

You need to act with your heart, in the face of fear, to do what is RIGHT for you to do, and you need to do this, no matter the consequences.

We all have our defaults, and it doesn’t really matter if they were created by us in the past or by the surrounding influences that guide us to x or y direction. It is time that we take control of our lives, starting with our decisions and our management of time and energy so that we don’t let ourselves be the victims of whatever “life” imposes on us.

It all begins with you. That doesn’t mean that you should be centered on your ego, or self-absorbed in any way. On the contrary, it all begins with you means that it all begins with you as your naked self.

The reason why I am very interested in the way stoic philosophers ponder daily on their mortality, is partly because when we do so, when we deeply internalize the fact that today might be our last day, and this action, this task might be the last thing we do, we completely change our mindset towards what is really important, what is really essential

“The risk of dying is always there, use this at your advantage” — Raphael Reiter

You don’t have to wait until the very last moment to take a nap on your own death bed. Reflect on your mortality today, and everyday.

It is time that we let go of the immediate, yet fictional gratification that comes with external success.

Focus on that task, like it is the first task. Focus on that task, like it is the last task. It might very well be so. Give it your heart, and the outside success (money, fame, whatever) will come as a by product of your excellence, love and commitment to your work.

We have lost the ability to sit back, and simply observe an event, an experience, an egg roll, without engaging our ego to the occasion. And that is quite dangerous. We must learn to let go of our judgements and disengage our egos. This is a matter of sanity.

Everyday HAS to have the same kind of urgency as if you knew for a fact that it was your last day to do your greatest work. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you will die tonight or tomorrow, although it is of course possible. But life brings many surprises, good and bad. Many things can happen and make today the last shot, the last opportunity to get this task done, to accomplish this goal.

“Reflect, then,” he said, “that your ancestors set up those trophies, not that you may gaze at them in wonder, but that you may also imitate the virtues of the men who set them up.” — Demosphenes

Should you be passionate? What is passion? Is passion suffering? Today's article aims at contemplating passion.

This article aims to answer the question: What is success? following the wisdom of Deepak Chopra and Coach John Wooden

Here are 5 great tips from the Buddha himself to help us live a good life

We sometimes find ourselves in a loop of automated thoughts, and these thoughts grow and never stop. Why? Because they never arrive to a satisfying conclusion. We need to learn to let go.

You shouldn’t have a priority list, because the word priority literally means: something that is prior to anything else. The one and only thing that you should get done now.

When someone is lost in his or her list of “priorities”, you can sense the stress and anxiety. The fear, the angst. Most of the time, it doesn’t get better. It gets worst. The list grows multiple times per week, per day even. The anxiety grows with it. It becomes a vicious spiral, a turmoil of events moving uncontrollably. It gets harder to calm it down. We start losing the little strength we had left, we burn out and quit.

"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment"

“Time is a river, the resistless flow of all created things. One thing no sooner comes in sight that it is hurried past and another is borne alone, only to be swept away in its turn. Reflect often upon the rapidity with which all existing things, or things coming into existence sweep past us and are carried away. Even while a thing is in the act of coming into existence, some part of it has already ceased to be.”

We all have a craving, and intrinsically yearning for that theory of the unified field. We have this craving of connexion of all things, not through energy or love, but precisely because everything is made, at the source, from pure energy.

How to start a meditation practice: part 1: Why. I find that it is very important, before making the decision of starting a meditation practice, to know why we need or want to meditate. Read more -->