Some of the most profound truths come from the simplest minds and mouths.

The movie character Forrest Gump immortalized his mother's homespun wisdom in the line, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." The saying is so pervasively repeated and...

Of course you want the turkey to be done. You'd like the mashed potatoes to keep warm, the stuffing to stay moist and the gravy to taste homemade. You're hoping the pies turn out, the guests turn up and the TV gets turned off. You'll be grateful to have it...

Parents are rightfully concerned about the capacity their children have to pay attention, express empathy and cope with the stresses that infiltrate their lives. Should we then coerce our children onto meditation cushions? Impose artificial silence, stillness or philosophical indoctrination? Before you do that, take a closer look.

Children are...

What does a monastery have that your home doesn't? A lot less stress, for starters. Take a look at some basic monastic practices and see how easy it is to steal some serenity for yourself.

Not long ago, a tour bus stopped in front of my house and two dozen...

The other day a Twitter follower messaged me with a question about end-of-life care for a relative.

It might surprise you that a matter this weighty would be the subject of a tweet, but I get questions akin to it all the time. As a Buddhist priest,...

As a Buddhist priest, I hear quite a bit about compassion, that brand of unconditional love we imagine ourselves to be incapable of having for one another. Talking about compassion may be one reason it is so frequently misunderstood as something that we should be doing. But compassion doesn't need...

Not long ago, I authored a post with 10 Tips for a Mindful Home, stirring up quite a bit of unrest over the suggestion that we begin each day by making the bed, a task that doesn't consume more than five minutes of a morning routine. Assuming we...

The idea of mindfulness seems to be catching on. That's good, but if we're not careful, an idea is where it remains.

To be sure, mindfulness is a concept most of us like: to improve our lives with special contemplative consideration, a method for making saner choices and assuring better...

Are you hungry for love? Starved for time? Devoid of company and famished for fulfillment? Even in our homes and families, many of us think we've never found true love, and if we've found it, that we'll never keep it. The world seems ever more hungry for love, spinning faster...

Happiness researchers are mystified. Almost nothing we think will make us happy actually has that effect: not higher incomes, not bigger houses, not having kids, and not even winning the lottery. Sure, money helps, but you're more likely to say you're happy living in a poor country than a rich...