Breath by breath, the world comes and goes,

with no hook for the weight you wish to hang on it.

It's important not to go through life merely being enamored of the idea of being a meditator.

As one year becomes the next, we are socialized to demarcate a boundary that doesn’t exist so we can celebrate its crossing. It’s like writing something already done on your To Do list, just so you can experience the joy of crossing it off.

I never felt more alive that morning I almost died during the summer of 1983. I had driven from Columbus to Ocoee, Tennessee with a buddy from the ski shop where we both worked. We were stoked to participate in the Ocoee River Rodeo, the whitewater event where freestyle kayaking was born. …Ron and I planned to run the river not in kayaks, but in a tandem open canoe. We wore helmets and PFDs, had two throw lines and inflatable flotation to displace the water that would inevitably get in over the gunwales. Each of us had decent whitewater experience, but neither of us had tried anything as beefy as what we were about to attempt.

And yet time is free. It has been given to us with no strings attached. We spend it willingly, sometimes without thought or effort and sometimes hurriedly, afraid that this might be the day that it will be snatched away. That day, we know with certainty, is coming, and our anonymous benefactor will surely, we believe, become the reaper. So, really, is time valuable?

The language of awareness, though, communicates connection, oneness and has no concept of difference or separation. In the language of awareness, there is no “I,” no “you,” no separation.

Spring’s rebirth is a story we tell ourselves. Like spring, our uniqueness, suffering, inadequacy, death limitations are all stories we believe to be true. They are true for us by choice, but nothing could be farther from Truth. What is Truth? Ha! A topic for us to discuss over beers or tea, perhaps. I can share, though, what might change if you change the stories you believe about what is true. Everything. Everything will change.

This exploration of the neuroscience of happiness and creating results brought me to the deepest of questions. I was totally not expecting that! But it happened as I began to see and feel the connection between inner peace and “outer” happiness. Learning techniques and practices to enhance how happy we feel was great. Understanding the neuroscience made these seemingly “wacky” ideas scientifically valid. As they melded with my lifelong meditation practice, tough, I realized that much of my own happiness was coming from…