Are you a narcissist? Or have you overcome your narcissist tendencies with meditation? Well, if you were raised in our highly individualized western culture, then there’s a good chance that at least a little narcissism drives your life. Your professional life, your personal life, and perhaps even your spiritual life. This is the topic I dive into in the “Dharma Bite” I had with Aikido Sensei, meditation teacher, and psychiatrist Dr. Dominique Cassidy about “Meditation, Narcissism, & The “I.“
The below “Dharma Bite” is an excerpt from a longer dialogue I did with Teja “Fudo Myoo” Bell Roshi for our “Meditation For Aikidoka” online course members. We had such a wonderful dialogue that I decided to share this excerpt here with my blog readers on “From Emptiness To Spontaneity”.
I recently had an “Aiki-Discussion” with Aikido Sensei and Zen Roshi Eran “Junryu” Vardi for my “Meditation For Aikidoka” online course. We had a wide-ranging conversation on Aikido, Meditation, and enlightenment and I was left with the feeling that we had only scratched the surface. I have taken an excerpt from our discussion to share with you here called “Self, Identity, & Flow”.
5-Day Mindfulness Meditation Retreat w/ Miles Kessler
| Date: | November 20, 2018—November 25, 2018 |
|---|---|
| Event: | Maastricht, Nederlands - 5-Day Mindfulness Meditation Retreat |
| Topic: | Mindfulness Meditation Retreat |
| Sponsor: | SeeTrue Mindfulness |
| Venue: | Monastery of the Sisters Under the Arches |
| Location: | Maastricht Netherlands |
| Public: | Public |
| Registration: | Click here to register. |
How intentional are you about your practice and what do you ultimately hope to gain? Do you even consider your desired outcome? In this “Dharma Bite” with Zen teacher and author Diane Musho Hamilton, we discuss how meditation gradually brings you into a greater sense of simplicity in your life. But part of gaining this simplicity is understanding what it means to have few desires, but have great ones.
Do you see defeat as a good or bad? If you’re like most, defeat is something you would probably rather avoid. In fact, in some cases, the thought of defeat can be so unacceptable that you’d rather not participate. But even though defeat may feel completely undesirable, what are the possible upsides to defeat? What did the mystic poet Rainer Maria Rilke mean when he said: “the purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.”
How aware are you of fear? How does fear feel in your body? How about your mind? Is your experience of fear that fear is in you, or that you are in fear? In the below “Dharma Bite” I continue in my series of Dharma Discussions with Integral Facilitator & Zen Sensei Diane Musho Hamilton on this very topic. In this excerpt, we talk about the competency of containing fear with awareness.
What is your relationship to conflict? Is it something you prefer to avoid? Or do you like to lean into a good fight? Recently, Diane Musho Hamilton and I held our 3rd Community Call in our “Dharma & The Evolution Of Conflict” 3-part series. In this call, together with the global sangha, Diane & I dove into this very topic as we explored “Embracing Conflict As Path.”
There are no two ways about it; from time to time, life can be tough. Creating the skill to work with life’s arising challenges is essential. Meditation, for example, is a sort of “superpower” that gradually increases your capacity to hold and be with life’s challenges. It will help you to weather the storm. But you also need to develop competencies to skillfully work with, and discover the inherent potential in difficult moments.
On May 1st, 2018, Diane Musho Hamilton and I held our 2nd of 3 Community Calls on “Dharma & The Evolution Of Conflict.” In this call with the global sangha Diane & I explored the topic of “Our Evolutionary Potential.”
