In the movie Ikiru, directed by Akira Kurosawa, an aging bureaucrat discovers he has stomach cancer and is propelled into an existential crisis by the realization that he has wasted his life engaged in a meaningless job.  This revelation opens him up, however, to a constructive act:  he sets to work transforming a stagnant pond...Read More

Mindfulness practices in the schools seem to be thriving, with millions of kids being introduced to it in one form or another.  Along with its popularity, there’s been some push-back from parent groups about whether or not mindfulness violates the separation of church and state.  While it’s true that mindfulness emerged from Buddhism (in particular...Read More

As part of the kick-off for my new book Mindfulness in the Classroom: Strategies for Promoting Concentration, Compassion, and Calm, I’m going to be producing some videos which get at different aspects of mindfulness, both for adults and for children and adolescents. This first video looks at the three key elements involved in mindfulness: focus,...Read More

During the Middle Ages, a popular image of the stages of life in Roman Catholicism was of a mandala with Christ in the center and the different ages of man represented as spokes around that hub (see my post on The Stages of Life and the Liturgy of the Hours).  With the dawning of the...Read More

In Roman Catholicism there exists a daily pattern of prayer, where specific prayers are linked to particular times of the day, a practice which dates from Medieval times. This cycle of prayer is typically undertaken by those in a monastic order. Some adherents believe that this Divine Office, as it is also called, reflects not...Read More