Or chop vegetables, carry water. Same thing.The full zen koan is “Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.”What does that mean?I don’t know. But what I hear in it is how simple, practical, and “everyday” insights can be…which is exactly the opposite of how our mind tells us they will
Imagine riding a rollercoaster with no concept of what a rollercoaster is.If you don’t know you’re on a 2-minute, relatively safe ride, every twist and turn is terrifying. It’s all so real. It feels dangerous; your safety and security appear to be at stake. You know nothing about what’s happening or what’s going to happen.There’s
It’s your capacity to feel uncomfortable and know who you are. Watch that feeling rise and fall without tossing a bunch of words and concepts and mental ideas at it.If you eat, it’s your capacity to feel energy that your mind calls discomfort and know who you are beyond and bigger than it. Watch the
Scary thoughts are not much different than nightmares.When you wake up after a horrible nightmare and realize it was a dream, the emotion begins to fade pretty quickly.There might be some lingering adrenaline throughout the morning, but rarely much.“It was just a nightmare. It’s not real,” is something you might say with great relief.What if
There is enormous freedom in remembering how little we actually know.It’s said that the human brain processes 11,000,000 bits of information per second but we are consciously aware of only about 50 bits per second. Isn’t that an incredible ratio? Eleven million bits of information, give or take, are being taken in and processed every
If you’ve been in The Little School of Big Change or you’ve watched some Ask Amy’s, you know my teeth.I use these wind-up, plastic, chattering teeth to illustrate how our mind seems to work. Bright red plastic gums and tall, shiny white teeth. You wind them up and they chatter and chomp around your table.Everyone
The only reason you may not feel full of confidence, peace, and clarity is because you identify with experience moving through as who-you-are. You mistake what you think, feel, and do for who-you-are. We all do.It’s a simple misunderstanding. A clear-cut case of mistaken identity.I’m not only talking to you, of course. This mistaken identity
Five kids from the neighborhood are playing telephone in my backyard. The phrase is “Koala bears are cute and pandas bears are cuddly”.Willow whispers it to Sergio, who repeats it to Lilly, who passes it along to Lucas. By the time Lucas whispers the phrase to Miller, it comes out as “Koalas are cute when
A couple weeks ago, I boarded a 36 ft. RV with my family. That’s us just before taking off. We look happy, don’t we?The day we picked up the RV, it was huge. It had a king size bed, 1.5 baths, and 3 televisions. Insane, right?By the morning of Day 2, it was a little
It’s easy to worry your way through these uncertain days.
Binge watching the news. Binge eating and drinking everything in sight. Numbing in whatever way brings you momentary comfort.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Although your outside freedoms may be limited, your internal freedom never is. And although there are a million things that “could happen”, those have nothing to do with life in this very moment.
I wanted to record this special class for you, to speak to some of the common questions and worries I’ve been hearing. I hope this helps you view worry, uncertainty, anxiety and habits in a new way.
Please be well, and consider spending your time looking in the direction of this deeper understanding. It’s full of good news.
Listen to my podcast or others. Read and watch things that remind you who you are beyond your fleeting experience. And please reach out of you need support.
School starts March 1st.
Let’s get you enrolled!
*By Pre-enrolling you also agree to receive my newsletter.
I respect your privacy and you can unsubscribe any time
School starts March 1st.
Let’s get you enrolled!
*By Pre-enrolling you also agree to receive my newsletter.
I respect your privacy and you can unsubscribe any time
