Ed and Deb Shapiro

Most of us are human doings struggling to be human beings. Every so often we need a bit of a nudge to get back on track, to remember to breathe and to smile.

Meditation is highly misunderstood and often under-rated, yet is perhaps what it takes to be a truly sane person. How does meditation affect us? How does it shift our priorities?

Ever noticed how, when you are in a good mood, it is hard for you to harm or hurt anything? For that reason, someone who incites feelings of discord or enmity actually needs to be loved even more.

The more we extend ourselves with kindness, the less we will be focused on our own limitations. Discovering our inter-connection takes us from a place of self-centerdness to other-centeredness.

We choose our friends but we can't always choose who we live and work with. How can you make your home or workplace somewhere that is more pleasant, peaceful and caring for one another?

The idea of sitting still and watching our breath can appear boring, meaningless, even a time-waster and not at all fun, challenging or creative. Yet meditation is all of this and much more.

Just as the sky has storms, wind, rain, and tornadoes, but is not affected by these things, so our true mind has worries, upsets and fears, but need not be affected by them.

Being fearless does not mean we deny fear. Rather, it is fully experiencing the fear, naming it, getting to know it, and taking it by the hand so that it can become our friend and ally.

Illness is such a part of being alive. Resistance creates tension and denial -- it is important that we make friends with whatever our circumstances may be. Acceptance creates room for growth and even healing.

We're reminded of this story whenever we find ourselves trying to control a situation or getting worked up about something. 'Just spread your dhoti,' is like saying, 'Breathe in, breathe out, relax and let go.'

It is in those very moments when everything looks hopeless that we have a real chance to grow into something better: what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, we call a butterfly!

Often one of the most insulting things someone can say to us is, "Are you out of your mind?" But what if it is actually the coolest thing we could say...

How do we balance our parental instinct to protect and nurture with the tendency to become overprotective, fear-based parents who raise fearful, reticent children?

While leading a meditation class, we'll see people nodding off to sleep. Which is one of the reasons why Zen teachers whack their students with a thin bamboo stick -- it doesn't hurt but it certainly wakes them up!

Though our extended family would send Christmas gifts and I knew about Santa and his reindeer, the real magic for me came during the Winter Solstice.

Change has to start within ourselves; we cannot expect the world to change if we do not.

Being with what is as it is, and integrating the reality of change is wonderfully liberating -- our opportunity to clear away layers to start anew in each moment. We can become fearless through uncertainty.

What is it that stops us from being the best we can be, from giving unreservedly, from caring for others more than ourselves?

Does your mother-in-law make you want to bite your nails? Does your work make you feel overwhelmed and unable to cope? What do you do when you just wa...

New Forms, Old Process. Despite the news avalanche surrounding Tiger Woods, he's not the only one standing on shaky ground. It is, however, the unexpected places that lead us to the real.

It's Halloween and time to don your masks. What aspect of yourself will you be expressing? Do you see yourself as a gangster, an angel, a beast, or a talk-show host?

Join me by opening your hearts, not just your wallets, and recognizing that we are all one big human family and we need to be loved and appreciated, whatever color our skin may be or whatever our name is.

I'd sleep on planes and on airport benches, in the back of taxis and rickshaws and twice I've slept like a baby at Mt. Everest Base Camp, regardless of the 17,000 ft. altitude.