Newer Client Testimonial
"I've been working with Andy for about four months and would highly recommend him to other startup founders and leaders. What I've personally appreciated most is how Andy's helped me recognize the impact of my emotional state and my feelings on the work I'm trying to do and the contributions that I'm trying to make.”
Thoughts And Feelings Are Not The Enemy
Thoughts and feelings are not the enemy. Eyes see, ears hear, skin feels, noses smell, tongues taste, and minds think. Our practice as meditators is to see and know we're seeing, to hear and know we're hearing, to feel and know we're feeling, to smell and know we're smelling, to taste and know we're tasting, and to think and know we're thinking. And to allow it all.
I Choose Love. I Choose Living.
Lost in the depths of hell amidst a recent Ayahuasca journey, I began to discover another way. I'd often heard about this so-called "choice" before, yet it never previously felt like a choice…at least that I had the tools to make.
The path I'd been traveling was dark and ominous. Beginning to feel overwhelmed, my Buddhist meditation practice kicked in — awareness shifted to the breath, and I started allowing the nightmare to play out.
Almost as soon as I made the adjustment, in the distance appeared a pinprick of light. Like a moth to a lantern, to call it a choice to pursue at that point doesn't do justice to the automatic, instinctual attraction I felt. I wasn't sure where it was leading. And I knew I wanted to, had to, move towards it.
As I navigated towards the brightness, this new path gradually began to appear. It slowly became wider and more clear, almost cutting through the increasingly narrow, slippery, dark trails that led back down into the depths of the cold, damp cave from which I was emerging. I saw those descending paths transition real-time from being the primary way to the detours.
The ego slowly came back online, and with each step forward, my trust grew in this new moment-by-moment choice I was now consciously making to follow the light.
Somewhere along the way, the curandero verbally asked me how I was doing. The only words I could muster: "I choose love. I choose living."
Courage
There's a fine curvy line for me between courage and recklessness. What’s the difference? There’s fear with both. For me, it’s in the intent. With courage, the intent feels wholesome. There’s a trust, faith…in nature, science, someone I respect, myself, silence. There’s curiosity, openess, a desire to learn. That’s the source of its power, for sure. With recklesness, the ego is in the driver’s seat. And it almost always (eventually) drops me into an abyss, often flat on my face!
Tired Of A Busy Mind?
Trying really hard to change, like to become happy or peaceful, attaches the mind to a state, like unhappiness or chaos, and ensures the latter. All you need to do is practice noticing and allowing what feels pleasant and unpleasant. Over time, the body-heart-mind will automatically release the hot handles of the frying pans...
Thanissara On Healing Ourselves And Our World
Our second event focuses on personal and collective healing to let go of internal narratives and patterns that no longer serve so we can be clearer conduits for the intelligence of nature. Empowered to respond from a place of greater freedom, unhindered by internalized conditioning that undermines the fullness of our energy, we can more fully embody our authentic energy to meet these times.
Thanissara On Building Resilience And Making A Difference
This event is offered to company leaders to strengthen resilience and orient towards making a difference by drawing from a unique synthesis of the primary branches of Buddhism and informed by Western therapeutic processes. This approach, cultivated by Thanissara and Kittisaro, provides a context for the practice of meditation and contemplative inquiry enabling a heart-centered life of service.
Your Power To Change The World
“You may think it's not your responsibility to drive (climate) change. You may not think that you have the power to make this happen. Both of those statements are wrong.” — Simon Stiell, Head of UN Climate Change
Let’s Change, Together
Are you feeling empty inside despite worldly success? You see, what you've been looking for "out there" is already in you. It's been there all along...
And the path to realizing it IS the destination 🚶🏻♀️.
It's healing. It's meaning. It's love 💙.
And it saves the world 🌎.
Truly.
Please join my dear teacher Thanissara and me on Zoom on Tuesday 8/22 in this inaugural event for leaders where we'll combine ancient Buddhist wisdom, western psychotherapy, and design thinking to simultaneously address the challenges within and the challenges of the world.
Come, meditate, absorb, meet, brainstorm.
Let's do something BIG, together.
Learn more and register at https://www.mindfuloptimizations.com/thanissara-on-building-resilience-and-making-a-difference.
Brought to you in collaboration with Sacred Mountain Sangha 🙏🏻.
Seven Years Of Practice
Today marks 7 years of formal daily meditation practice for me. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined myself where I am today. I'm beyond grateful for each and every moment 🙏🏻.
Along the way, there have been over 100 days of retreat, a 2-year meditation teacher training, a yearlong somatic coaching training, a yoga teacher training, countless journeys 🌿, finding Ikigai thru mindful leadership coaching, living in the woods for 2 years, letting go of alcohol and caffeine, transitioning to a whole food plant based diet, sleeping more, and 4 hours every morning dedicated to peace...I estimate some 2,000 hours of practice since 2016 that have revived in me what my grandfather helped me begin cultivating at an early age, thru gazing at the water.
My practice is now, in addition to plenty of things on the inside, bringing this constantly changing new me and what I have learned into community and the world.
Deep gratitude to all of the practitioners who have kept Buddhist meditation alive and shared it for millinea 🙇🏼. And to all of you who have supported me along the way 💙.
"Peace in myself, peace in the world." — Thay
Acceptance
“I cannot thank Andy enough for his impact on my company. About two years ago, Andy introduced the concept of Acceptance. Not only did Acceptance become one of our core values, it has changed how we communicate and treat each other on a daily basis.”
— Seth G., Software Company CEO
Listen To Your Partner
One of my clients just sent me this text exchange he was having with his wife after our meeting today 🤣
Can you relate!?
Power
"We are so all motivated by the desire to be happy. And we know that we should have some power to be really happy. But what kind of power should we acquire? That is the question, and this is a real topic of meditation for everyone." — Thich Nhat Hanh
Relief From Suffering
"If you know how to hold your suffering long enough, you get relief." — Thich Nhat Hanh
Anxiety And Climate Change
You know how all the animals go haywire before a big natural disaster...
Anxiety levels are rising. Anxiety is fear. Fear is for survival. Climate change is accelerating.
Is anyone else seeing the link 🤔?
Father’s Day Tribute To My Granpa
My Granpa used to spend hours every afternoon gazing over the water from his rocking chair.
Deeply admiring his wise, calming presence, I began trying to emulate him as a young boy.
Uncertainty And Suffering
If you see certainty in that which is uncertain, you're bound to suffer.
It's kind of like yelling at a river to flow the other way.
— Paraphrasing Ajahn Chah
5 Years (California) Sober + Healthy Eating!
Today is a special day for me 🤗
5 years (California) sober + of healthy eating 🍲!
Love
Love by Alexander Milov
Are You Ready For A Still Mind?
Many people say they want peace, and deep down, they aren't yet ready for it. That's how it was for me for years. And that's the real reason I didn't have it. I thrived on the chaos. And not only is this okay, acknowledging this is a critical step in the path forward.