Saying Hello to Here

"What is home?"

~ Pádraig Ó Tuama

Daron LarsonMarch 7, 2017Pádraig Ó Tuama, Krista Tippett, poetry, strangers, On Being, uncertainty, Jonny McEwen, present, clarity, belonging, equanimityComment

You are Not Your Thoughts

"You are the awareness of your thoughts. You are not your thoughts. You can let your thoughts happen. Just know that the real you is the awareness."

~ RuPaul

Both the Protagonist and the Antagonist

Doris Payne lived large. She traveled abroad. She stayed in luxury hotels. She hung out with interesting characters. But she funded all her adventures by fencing the diamonds she lifted from high-end jewelers around the world. She was a remarkably successful thief with an impressive criminal career that spanned decades. But time, age, and technology finally caught up with her in recent years.

Daron LarsonApril 6, 2014Doris Payne, clarity, concentration, crime, documentary, equanimity, near enemies, theftComment

I Understand

Daron LarsonMarch 11, 2014Tom Sachs, clarity, order, paying attention, wworkplaceComment

Different from the Real Experience

Daron LarsonOctober 25, 2012Germaine Koh, Phillip Moffitt, clarity, communication, connection, narrative, reality, story, storytellingComment

Let the Cage Rattle

"It’s ironic that the biggest potential problem associated with focusing on emotional discomfort is closely linked to one of its most powerful payoffs: our cage may get rattled a bit before it collapses."

~ Shinzen Young

Daron LarsonJuly 20, 2012Shinzen Young, catharsis, clarity, emotion, equanimity, feelings, kenosis, memory, pain, past, suffering, transformationComment

A Trained Mind

"What I find most rewarding is how well Search Inside Yourself has worked for ordinary folks in a corporate setting right here in a modern society. If Search Inside Yourself had worked this well for people from traditionally meditative cultures doing intensive retreats in zendos or something, nobody would be too surprised. But these are ordinary Americans working in a high-stress environment with real lives and families and everything, and still, they can change their lives in just twenty hours of classroom time spread over seven weeks."

~ Chade-Meng Tan

Daron LarsonMay 12, 2012Chade-Meng Tan, Google, SIY, attention, clarity, concentration, creativity, emotional intelligence, friendliness, perception, practice, selfComment

Listen to Music, Hear Your Thoughts

By default, most of us have developed a stunning and sophisticated repertoire for blocking out the world around us. We allocate the bulk of our attention inwardly toward the stories playing out in our minds.

No Idea

Daron LarsonMay 1, 2011John Cleese, clarity, creativity, objectivity, uncertaintyComment

If You Take the Time

Daron LarsonMarch 1, 2011Jane Fonda, acting, aging, beauty, clarity, complete experience, discomfort, music, paying attention, theaterComment

Where Work and Play Merge

Daron LarsonJanuary 15, 2011Stephen Nachmanovitch, childhood, clarity, concentration, present, selfComment

Setting the Stage

"We can’t always have complete experiences, but sometimes we can and with practice we can have them more and more." ~ Shinzen Young

The Monastery Will Come to Each of Us

"Most people have neither the time nor the inclination to do intensive formal meditation practice. Why should they? Isn’t there enough physical and emotional discomfort in ordinary life? Why intentionally seek it out?

But the monastery will come to each of us when we have to confront our fears, losses, compulsions and anxieties, or process the aftermath of trauma. The monastery comes to us in the form of emotional crisis, illness or injury, a phobia or a failed relationship. The question is whether we will be in a position to recognize and use it as such."

~ Shinzen Young

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