If the Buddha were here today he would probably say, “If you want to change your life, then start by changing your thinking.” In the Noble Eightfold Path, the Buddha taught that the way to happiness is to practice Right Effort, meaning that we should relinquish negative and harmful thoughts and instead cultivate positive and beneficial ones.
Peace and happiness can really be one thought away provided we know which thoughts we need to let go of and which ones we should cultivate and encourage. In this video, I explain the Four Great Efforts and give you practical tips on how to practice each one. (more…)
Meditation is not about being ‘spaced out’. Instead, it’s a skilful and easy technique for discovering a wealth of happiness and joy within us. Often meditation is taught as a form of relaxation, to calm our minds and to reduce our stress levels. These are all beneficial by-products of meditation, but according to the Buddhist teachings they shouldn’t be the endpoint of our meditation. Instead, there is another reason behind our practice of meditation.
In modern times, we are being taught by society to search for happiness in the all the wrong places. Happiness doesn’t come from finally attaining all the perfect things in worldly life, but from the discovery of who we truly are. This episode explains how meditation’s primary goal is to come to an understanding about our own true ‘selves’, to know the true nature of our own minds, and how this wisdom allows one to achieve the highest happiness possible. All the past spiritual masters have found meditation to be the fastest and most effective technique for uncovering the vast treasure of joy and happiness that lies within each of us. This video explores some of the basic but fundamental reasons we should meditate. (more…)
