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Gentle Buddhism ...one breath at a time Fri, 03 Mar 2023 08:30:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 Meeting Suffering With Gentleness https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/03/meeting-suffering-with-gentleness/ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/03/meeting-suffering-with-gentleness/#respond Fri, 03 Mar 2023 08:30:26 +0000 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/?p=696 I have had a hard week. Not a ‘my cat died’ week, a ‘dealing with a serious illness’ week or a ‘falling apart’ week. Still, I have suffered. I have felt the burden of my responsibilities to the people and projects I am in relationship with. I have been crushed under the weight of a […]

]]> https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/03/meeting-suffering-with-gentleness/feed/ 0 How to Handle our Internal Cookie Monster https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/02/how-to-handle-our-internal-cookie-monster/ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/02/how-to-handle-our-internal-cookie-monster/#respond Wed, 15 Feb 2023 08:25:15 +0000 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/?p=684 (or, does gentleness lead to indulgence?) Last night I had a big pasta dinner followed by one of my home-made brownies. After another hour or so I wanted chocolate chip cookies, and so I ate one – and then another. It had been a long and difficult day, and I was being ‘gentle with myself’. […]

]]> https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/02/how-to-handle-our-internal-cookie-monster/feed/ 0 The Secret to Unlocking All Dharma Books https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/02/the-secret-to-unlocking-all-dharma-books/ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/02/the-secret-to-unlocking-all-dharma-books/#respond Tue, 07 Feb 2023 08:00:27 +0000 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/?p=546 One of the things I really love is when an improbably random trail of breadcrumbs leads me to some treasure. This happened yesterday, when my partner sent me an essay they thought I might enjoy. Usually I don’t have time in the middle of the day to read essays, but a client had cancelled and […]

]]> https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/02/the-secret-to-unlocking-all-dharma-books/feed/ 0 The Buddhist Police Inside My Head https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/the-buddhist-police-inside-my-head/ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/the-buddhist-police-inside-my-head/#respond Tue, 31 Jan 2023 08:10:32 +0000 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/?p=660 I have been working as a psychotherapist for twenty five years, and for the first decade or so I was aware of a voice inside my head that spoke up whenever I felt out of my depth. ‘You’re not a real therapist,’ it said. ‘Other therapists have had better training than you. They know about […]

]]> https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/the-buddhist-police-inside-my-head/feed/ 0 Did The Buddha Want Us To Go Gently? https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/did-the-buddha-want-us-to-go-gently/ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/did-the-buddha-want-us-to-go-gently/#respond Tue, 24 Jan 2023 07:24:38 +0000 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/?p=564 Sometimes I worry that ‘Gentle Buddhism’ is an oxymoron. When I think of the Pali sutras, the closest thing we have to the Buddha’s actual words, what I remember is their endless lists of good qualities – concentration, wisdom, patience, pure speech… and how the Buddha exhorts us to perfect these qualities in order to […]

]]> https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/did-the-buddha-want-us-to-go-gently/feed/ 0 Should We Help Ourselves Or Others First? https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/should-we-help-ourselves-or-others-first/ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/should-we-help-ourselves-or-others-first/#respond Thu, 19 Jan 2023 09:09:38 +0000 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/?p=555 My dream last night was vivid and spooky. I was walking around a pond with my elderly parents. The edges were steep and muddy. All at once, my mum slipped and fell into the pond – I still have an image of her, completely immersed in the murky water. My dad moved towards her and […]

]]> https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/should-we-help-ourselves-or-others-first/feed/ 0 A Gentle Approach to a Daily Buddhist Practice https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/a-gentle-approach-to-a-daily-buddhist-practice/ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/a-gentle-approach-to-a-daily-buddhist-practice/#respond Tue, 17 Jan 2023 08:54:37 +0000 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/?p=648 One hundred and fifty four days in a row. This was how long I had maintained my daily meditation practice, sitting cross-legged for half an hour of silence every morning. On the hundred and fifty fifth day, I woke up and had the thought, ‘I’m not going to do my practice today’. So I didn’t. […]

]]> https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/a-gentle-approach-to-a-daily-buddhist-practice/feed/ 0 What If This Year Is My Last? https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/what-if-this-year-is-my-last/ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/what-if-this-year-is-my-last/#respond Tue, 10 Jan 2023 08:58:09 +0000 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/?p=636 As my first day of work in 2023 approached, I got myself into a painful tangle. I’d previously done lots of writing in my journal about my goals for the year, and they felt clear. As I looked at the list, however, I felt panicky and trapped. There was a lot on there! In my […]

]]> https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2023/01/what-if-this-year-is-my-last/feed/ 0 Why Soft is More Powerful Than Shove https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2022/12/why-soft-is-more-powerful-than-shove/ Thu, 22 Dec 2022 08:00:38 +0000 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/?p=537 She was curled into a furry ball on the green chair, her tail pumping weakly as she greeted me through her morning sleepiness. I tickled her ears a little, and scratched her neck. As I gently stroked her she lifted her head and leaned back, exposing first her chest and then her soft belly. Soon […]

]]> Your Word For 2023 Will Work Magic https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/2022/12/your-word-for-2023-will-work-magic/ Tue, 20 Dec 2022 09:50:11 +0000 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/notesfromthetemple/?p=624 I couldn’t remember my Word of the Year for 2022. ‘This is not a good sign’, I thought to myself. ‘How can my special word have an influence on my year if I can’t even remember what it is?’ When I remembered it, I was happily surprised. The word I chose for 2022 was ‘enough’. […]

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