SUSAN’S
Blog

home from meditation retreat

August 18, 2007   |   Leave a reply

There is no way to describe the magic that happens when 100 or so people work at studying their own minds from 7am to 9pm. Our retreat was a combination of practice and study. We heard amazing, incredible, generous, inspiring talks from our teacher, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. The students were in love with the teacher and it seemed mutual. During... READ MORE

then they wrote an article

August 18, 2007   |   Leave a reply

and put a picture of me at the top. i’m starting to feel very happy.

up the mountain

July 22, 2007   |   1 Comment

Getting ready to leave Boulder and drive several hours north to Shambhala Mountain Center. Will be on meditation retreat until Aug 2. I wish it was longer. Very much so. I have enough clothes and snacks to last several months, that’s for sure. It feels like such a departure from everything ordinary that I try to soothe myself with outfit... READ MORE

going on retreat

July 19, 2007   |   Leave a reply

will be away july 22-aug 1 at shambhala mountain center. will be on meditation retreat with my teacher, sakyong mipham rinpoche. i’m so ridiculously excited and happy. may try to blog from there, but only intermittently if at all. it sounds crazy to say that involving yourself in spiritual practice from 7a to 9p every day for a few weeks... READ MORE

gtd and spiritual practice

July 2, 2007   |   1 Comment

GTD is an amazing system for multi-leveled personal organization. There are three things I love about it: It’s enormously intelligent It shamelessly satisfies the inner geek It produces spiritual benefits It’s this last one that is so interesting. The system brings a sense of order, pleasure, and quietude– the intelligence that famously comes forth from disciplined use of GTD. This... READ MORE

business of spirituality

July 1, 2007   |   Leave a reply

Wrote this for The Worst Horse, a great, excellent site where dharma meets pop and vice versa: Skillfully Savvy: Susan Piver’s 8 Points for Selling the Dharma Without Selling It Out We who work in the world of spirituality (or want to bring spirituality into the world of work) often think that if you focus too much on the quality... READ MORE

compromise, shmompromise

June 22, 2007   |   3 Comments

“Relationships take compromise.” Is there any piece of relationship advice more ubiquitous than this? Personally, the first time I heard it, I hoped it wasn’t true. It sounded like a grim reality, one where I’d have to sacrifice what I wanted and find some way to do what the other person wanted even though it was stupid. And plus I’d... READ MORE

fearlessness

June 21, 2007   |   Leave a reply

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, from “Conquering Fear” (Based on a seminar conducted in 1979 for teachers in Shambhala Training, a series of weekend programs on meditation and the view of warriorship): The starting point on the path of fearlessness is the discovery of fear. We find ourselves fearful, frightened, even petrified by circumstances. This ubiquitous nervousness provides us with a stepping... READ MORE

108 chances

June 14, 2007   |   Leave a reply

memphis slim at antone’s in austin, tx, 1986-ish (mel brown under the hat behind him, sitting at the b-3) Buddhists say that in every moment there are 108 opportunities to wake up fully and completely, to transcend the sorrows of this world and attain bliss without end. You might find your moment in the sunset or the blossoming of a... READ MORE

sam cooke & basic goodness

June 9, 2007   |   2 Comments

I heard that Sam Cooke dreamt the song A Change is Gonna Come,woke up and wrote it down. It scared him. He thought it meant he was going to die. The song sounds like this. Lately, I’ve been listening to it repeatedly. Like maybe hundreds of times in the last several months. It makes me cry every single time. I’m... READ MORE

"Out of Fear" (Shambhala Sun 2007)

June 3, 2007   |   Leave a reply

When I began practicing Buddhism in 1995, I hoped it would help me cope with depression, make me more loving, and, mainly, decrease the level of fear that seemed to always accompany me—fear of financial ruin, war, my own unlovability, or who could be calling me on the phone. And it really helped with these things; I calmed down a... READ MORE