Author Archives: Mary Slocum

A Little Talk on Karma, Intention, and Choice

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In this little talk, we see how karma–cause and effect– is always with us, how our intentions bear the fruit of effect, and how we are free to choose our actions whether these are bodily actions–the faces we make for example, spoken or written actions, or thought actions. We pause and notice how we always have choice and how our mindfulness practice trains us to see clearly in the moment cause and effect, intention, and choice in action.

A Little Talk on Loving Awareness

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This is a little talk on Loving Awareness. Loving awareness is our true nature. It is who we really are. In this little talk we explore the qualities of loving awareness, what gets in our way of living our lives from it, and how by changing our perspective through practice we can live from it more fully.

A Little Talk on Inquiry — A Pillar of Well-Being

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This little talk is about inquiry. When we do inquiry we gain insights into how our minds work and what is true and what isn’t. Doing inquiry frees us from the constant buzz of the stories we tell ourselves, the judgments we make, and emotions that we feel control us.

A Little Talk on Awareness — A Pillar of Well-Being

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In this little talk on Awareness, we explore what science has learned about how the brain functions when we are aware, how awareness is a skill that is built through practice, and how factors in our lives like negative moods, threats, or our values not aligning with our actions can compromise our awareness—our attention in the present moment. Enjoy.

A Little Talk on Finding Kindness

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On Monday, November 9, 2020 the New York Times published how voters are looking to the future. Ruth Dolash from Iowa said this, “We have more hate in this country than we need. I’d like to do my part to get rid of some of that. But I don’t know where to start.” We start by being willing to be with our own demons. How do we do this? In this little talk on Finding Kindness we explore how by the practice of recognizing, allowing, and investigating our demons and giving ourselves kindness from that place of equanimity, we open kindness in ourselves and from there can stream it out into the world. Kindness is healing for ourselves and others. It is the antidote to hate.

Another Little Talk on Equanimity

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This is my second little talk on Equanimity. In this talk we explore ways of cultivating equanimity in our lives. Equanimity is that state of open, unperturbed, and balanced mind that sees the big picture and is able to respond appropriately rather than react from habit. Equanimity is at the heart of compassion giving us the courage to act compassionately while knowing that the outcome of any compassionate act is not within our control.

A Little Talk on Feeling Tone

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In this little talk I explore feeling tone. In mindfulness feeling tone has a very specific meaning. It means the feeling of pleasant, unpleasant, or neither pleasant nor unpleasant (neutral) we feel in the moment of an experience arising. When we are not mindful–when our minds are flighty and not focused–we fly right over feeling tone into reactive emotions and thoughts. When we train our minds to pay attention and notice feeling tone, we give ourselves the opportunity to pause and to respond appropriately, rather than react from habit. Feeling tone is like having a mini super-power we can use in every moment of our experience.