I have a horrible habit that I am trying to break - you listening? It’s something that really messes with my personal life and with the lives of the people that I know, trust and possibly even love. I mentally plan my own wedding on a regular basis. In and of itself, this is not a bad thing, if I actually had a partner to get married to and a wedding already scheduled. But the sad thing is that I have neither. So, why is it that I am in this habit of taking people that I meet and visualize myself spending the rest of my life with them and mentally debating whether or not to have the service at First Unitarian or First Universalist? And why is it that this is a problem for both me and the people that I care about? Continue reading ‘I Have a Bad Habit of Planning My Own Weddings’
Archive for the 'Buddhism' Category
Sometimes, I wonder what authority I really had to tell people that it was important to forgive the attacker. I mean, it is true that the attacker committed a horribly heinous crime and he got what he deserved, but some people need a little bit more time to grieve. And I believe that the appropriate approach to deal with when I deal with this tragedy or tragedies like this from now on is to meet people where they are at in their pain. I borrow this saying from Arthur Jeon and his book, City Dharma. Basically, the story that he tells in his book to illustrate this concept is one where he is waiting in line at the bank and he sees an old man who is angry as hell, for what reason no one really knows. Arthur tries to offer to help him, with an agenda in mind (to relieve this person’s suffering) and approaches him with this agenda and offers to help him. What happens is that old man tries to splash hot coffee into his face and Arthur immediately backs down. The bank manager comes onto the scene and offers to help him with his problem, meeting him where he is at in the moment. She does have an agenda in mind, but she tries to meet him at the moment. Continue reading ‘Meeting People Where They Are’
I have finally decided to major in psychology. And I have already picked out the school that I just wish to go to for both my bachelors and masters degrees - Naropa University. Naropa is a private (read: expensive as hell) university which provides Buddhist-based education up in the liberal foothills of Boulder, Colorado. Truth be told, the entire reason why I moved to Colorado in the first place was so that I could easily attend Naropa. And guess how I suddenly became broke? Yes, it was by trying to move to and live in Boulder without having a job already lined up before the move. But either way, there are several reasons why I want to have a Buddhist-based education in psychology at Naropa. Continue reading ‘Why I Want to Go to Naropa for my BA & MA’