Mindfulness is a central concept in creating change.   We tend to think that we already know what we are doing, thinking, and feeling.  However, an almost universal experience of those who start practicing mindfulness is that they become aware of how little they really know about themselves. When we are not mindful of our experiences, […]

Researchers at Wake Forest conducted a study where participants attended four 20-minute classes on meditation and then were subjected to hot plates on their legs.  Pain reduction for those who learned to meditate ranged from 11 to 93 percent.  Those participants averaged 40 percent reduction in pain intensity and 57 percent reduction in pain unpleasantness.  […]

Why are our lives so full of stress and anxiety?  Could we be addicted to suffering?  That really sounds absurd.  Why would any creature perpetuate its own suffering?  I believe that we humans do it all the time by repeatedly thinking and acting in self-harming ways.  Our anxiety and stress is often so constant that we […]