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Depression, rumination and compassion
I recently read an article in the New York Times about depression. The author, Johan Lehrer, discussed a new theory in which depression is thought to have an evolutionary purpose, gaining insight. The...
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What is conscious activism? My article on Elephant
My debut article on Elephant Journal is about conscious activism. In the post, I described a question that I asked Thich Nhat Hanh during a time in which I suffered from a flare of IBD. At the time, I...
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Patients as volunteers – can it work?
I’d like to start a new non-profit website that serves as a network for patients who want to volunteer some of their time to important causes. A lot of patients suffer from feeling like they can’t...
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Zen medicine – part 2
During a mindfulness retreat at the end of 2000, I caught a stomach flu and began to develop grave symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s colitis). I could not sleep more than two hours at...
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The gifts of illness
Please click on the following link to read my article on Elephant Journal: “The Gifts of Illness,” I wrote about illness from an unconventional perspective, as something that offers us a way to wake up...
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Living with uncertainty
Earlier this week I went to my doctor to have my moles checked out. It had been three years since a doctor looked at them. I explained to the doc that I am at high-risk for melanoma cancer because: 1)...
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Befriending anxiety
Before I had a chronic illness the situations in my life that triggered the most anxiety were going on dates, difficulties in relationships, and taking academic exams. Back in those days, one of my...
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Accepting the challenges we’d rather avoid
“A further sign of health is that we don’t become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it’s time to stop struggling and look directly at what’s threatening us.” ~ Pema Chödrön...
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More than mindfulness
I have practiced mindfulness meditation for almost 20 years. I started practicing mindfulness meditation way back in 1994, after reading the Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, Being Peace....
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Being in nature, being at peace
Below are a few examples of research findings that suggest that being in nature often has a healing effect on humans. Having encountered a black bear in a park in Colorado, I can say firsthand that it...
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