Jonathan Gibbons
No Bread
Every morning I go to the bakery on the next street to buy freshly baked bread that comes from a nearby village in the mountains. But...
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Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20221 min read
The Wobbly Paving Stone
Yesterday, when the rain finally stopped and the sun began to shine, I headed out for a walk. It was warm enough for shorts and sandals,...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20223 min read
The Missed Flight
A couple of years ago, I was heading back to Spain from England, where I’d been visiting friends and family. I needed to catch a train to...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20222 min read
Preference & Demand
What’s the difference between a preference and a demand? And what do they have to do with acceptance? Both preferences and demands are...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20223 min read
Material Reality & Desire
Many of us now live in extremely comfortable circumstances. We’re well fed, live in solid houses that protect us from the elements, and...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20222 min read
Past & Future
You’ve talked a lot about accepting whatever’s coming up in the moment, but what about the past and the future? Do we have to accept...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20224 min read
Be Here Now
“Be Here Now” has become a kind of cliché, and you may be tired of hearing it. But it’s become a cliché for good reason. Because it’s...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20222 min read
Letting Go of the Future
How can we stop obsessing about the future when everything seems so uncertain? The future is uncertain. And that’s the first thing we...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20221 min read
Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Body
If we’re trying to deal with troubling emotions, it’s important to understand exactly what needs to be accepted. We’re often not able to...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20222 min read
Pain
Last summer, while we were on vacation on the coast, I found myself watching Annchen doing her energetic yoga practice out on the patio...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20221 min read
I Can’t Change the World
Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20223 min read
Accepting Me
During my years living in Asia, I used to go for meditation retreats in Sri Lanka about once a year. I’d head up into the mountains and...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20223 min read
GPS Problems
So I’ve started to make significant progress in accepting myself just as I am. But what about you? How can I possibly begin to accept the...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20223 min read
Micro-Victim Identity
When we talk about somebody having a victim identity, we tend to think of a case where the person has become quite dysfunctional—a person...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20223 min read
I Don’t Need You to Accept Me
When I first came to Spain twenty-five years ago, I found a job teaching English in a private school. As the new teacher in town, I was...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20222 min read
Your Acceptance May Piss Me Off
Be prepared—the more accepting we become of things that are clearly “unacceptable,” the more the world will tell us we’re wrong. In...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20223 min read
Stop Moaning
Unfortunately, we often sabotage our acceptance by engaging in what for many of us is our favorite pastime—moaning. It never ceases to...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20222 min read
Sitting Doing Nothing
Nothing is more important than doing nothing. Sitting doing nothing is the most basic of meditative practices, and yet it has the...
Jonathan Gibbons
Oct 13, 20222 min read
Coming Back to the Present
Whatever type of practice we’re doing, the main focus is always to keep the attention on the experience of the present moment. Once we’re...
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