The Dark Night

I've received many benefits from my meditation practice.  Yet, as I've written in some of my most often read posts, I'm skeptical about the vast positive claims the proponents of mindfulness meditation make.  It truly can't be this good for everyone who undertakes it.

Today many teachers with little depth of understanding of the challenges meditators can face are leading students into practices that, while often very positive and relaxing, can lead a troubled mind to very dangerous places.

Meditation on a Friend's Suicide

A very close friend of my wife recently killed herself.  The experience has been gut-wrenching.  I wrote a post the day after we received the news.  It has been published on PsychCentral.

You can read it here.

It's Not That I've Stopped Thinking

I’ve often attributed my success in managing bipolar disorder to the meditation practice I added to my treatment regimen years ago.  While there’s no doubt that the noticing involved in meditation has helped me head off major episodes of mania and depression, I changed something else in my life at about the same time I began to practice.  This adaptation may have equal weight in my wellness.  What did I change?  I stopped reading fiction.