Spiritual Nourishment in Nature

For thousands of years, humankind as built cities to escape the hardships of nature, but has turned to nature for spiritual nourishment.  The rishis (seers) who wrote Hindu scripture lived in the wilderness.  Old Testament prophets sought God on mountaintops.  The Buddha and his disciples sought enlightenment in the forests.  After taking their vows, Hindu and Buddhist

Tips for Transitioning

Kierkegaard said: “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”  My exit from the LDS church five years ago was far from graceful, and with hindsight I understand it better now than when I lived it.  Here are some lessons I learned backwards for those who are living their transition forwards.

Top 5 Regrets of the Dying

The famous Tibetan poet Milarepa once said: “My religion is to live – and die – without regret.” I remember writing that quote down in my journal with a big star next to it that said, “me too!” It’s been almost 4 years since I wrote that down. I recently came across a book called

Meditation: A Beginner’s Guide

Over the past several years, scientific research has confirmed that meditation improves the brain in several significant ways.  One of the most surprising discoveries is that the benefits of meditation are not limited to intangible, subjective ones reported by test participants, but that meditation also produces physical improvements in brain structure that have been confirmed with fMRI