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Consistency in Meditation

10/10/2026

To make meditation a habit, it’s important to find regular time for meditation, and then stick with it. Treat your meditation time like an appointment with a good friend. You wouldn’t allow other events and issues to squeeze out time with a friend. Apply the same thinking toward your meditation schedule. As you sit regularly during the same time, it will naturally become part of your daily routine.
-Victor M Parachin, "How to Make Meditation a Habit the Buddhist Way," Spirituality & Health

Chanting Meditation

10/6/2026

There are many ways to meditate besides sitting silently. From the Vedic tradition, there is mantra meditation. Here, one repeats a word or phrase for the purpose of focusing the mind. The most common word, and one which is said to have the most power, is the sound OM. Sit quietly and chant om for several minutes until you feel your mind relaxed. Follow that with a few moments of silence.

From the Japanese Nichiren Buddhist tradition, there is chanting of the phrase Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. This way of meditation was favored by Tina Turner, the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” who practiced chanting meditation for decades. Buddhist and Vedic traditions offer a wide variety of meditative techniques. Research them and commit to the technique that works best with your personality.
-Victor M Parachin, "How to Make Meditation a Habit the Buddhist Way," Spirituality & Health

Meditation Posture

10/3/2026

The seemingly universal image of a meditator is of one seated on the floor with legs crossed or in a full lotus position with feet resting on opposite thighs. While these positions work for some, they aren’t ideal for most people. In fact, the Buddha is presented in various images in four separate postures: sitting, standing, walking, and reclining. If you can sit comfortably on the floor or a cushion with legs crossed, do so. If that posture doesn’t work with your body, then do what the Buddha did: stand, walk, or lay down on your back. Also, meditation works just fine sitting on a chair with a straight back and hands gently resting on the thighs. This is called Egyptian posture because it is believed that the ancient pharaohs sat this way in meditation.
-Victor M Parachin, "How to Make Meditation a Habit the Buddhist Way," Spirituality & Health

Humility

9/29/2026

“To be humble does not mean that we are ‘less than,’ but that we are ready to accept the possibility that there is some wisdom that we still do not fully possess,” says Tashi Nyima, the preceptor at Universal Compassion Buddhist Congregation in Dallas, Texas. Be a person who embraces opportunities to practice humility. Author and rabbi Joseph Telushkin suggests asking these types of questions of yourself to bring humility into your life:

- Do I respect people whose opinions differ from mine?

- Do I try to better understand those who disagree with me on important issues?

- Do I have the maturity to change my mind on a strongly held position?

- Do I listen to others with the sense I can learn something from them?

- Do I solicit and actively seek out perspectives different from my own?
-Victor M Parachin, "How to Manage Pride the Buddhist Way," Spirituality & Health

Maintain a Balanced Perspective

9/26/2026

Meditation is very good for the spirit. Ancient yogis and modern meditators note spiritual/emotional benefits, including:
- emotional, spiritual and mental detachment
- peace of mind
- heightened awareness of the inner self
- the ability to look beyond the body, mind and personality
- living without ego attachment
- discovery of one's true being
- attaining self-realization and spiritual awakening
- maintain a balanced perspective on life

Before proceeding, it can be helpful to pause and think about the importance of cultivating a broad perspective on your life. Suffering is often deepened because we personalize what has happened. This can leave us feeling victimized by life which, in turn, makes us feel worse. . . . You have a choice in how you will respond to traumas which come your way. Use meditation as a tool for empowering you to respond--not react--to life's difficulties in a rational, healthy and balanced way.
-Victor M Parachin, Sit a Bit

Two Sides of Pride

9/22/2026

There is pride that is positive and emotionally healthy that shows up as self-confidence, healthy self-esteem, and awareness and appreciation of one’s accomplishments and achievements. In an article from Tricycle: The Buddhist Review titled “Hang On To Your Ego,” Thanissaro Bhikkhu writes: “If your ego functions are healthy and well-coordinated, they give you a consistent sense of priorities as to which forms of happiness are more worthwhile than others; a clear sense of where your responsibilities do and don’t lie; a strong sense of your ability to judge right and wrong for yourself; and an honest sense of how to learn from your past mistakes.”

On the other hand, there is pride that is emotionally dysfunctional. That form of pride looks like arrogance, inflated self-esteem, and the feeling that one is superior to and more important than others. . . . It can be challenging to assess whether you’re simply a confident person or someone who is arrogant and whose pride is becoming an issue. The subtle grip of pride entering a person’s life was observed by the Seventh Dalai Lama (1708-1757) who wrote: “What is the wild horse that throws one from the mountain one is ascending? Pride, which thinks oneself superior and dwells on one’s own good qualities.”
-Victor M Parachin, "How to Manage Pride the Buddhist Way," Spirituality & Health

Optimism

9/19/2026

Modern psychology researchers consistently reveal that optimism is linked to better physical and mental health outcomes, as well as promoting a sense of well-being during difficult times. This would be no surprise to Eastern spiritual teachers who have, across the ages, promoted and endorsed maximizing the positive and minimizing the negative.

Be like the sages and cultivate optimism. Motivate yourself by reading and reciting wisdom statements about optimism and positive thinking such as these:

- “People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?”—Thich Nhat Hanh

- “I have no such words as ‘cannot,’ ‘difficult,’ ‘impossible,’ and ‘weakness’ in my dictionary. Those who are attempting to strengthen their will-force should remove these words from their dictionary.”—Swami Sivananda

- “Buddhism is a path of supreme optimism, for one of its basic tenets is that no human life or experience is to be wasted or forgotten, but all should be transformed into a source of wisdom and compassionate living.”—Taitetsu Unno

- “It is a great advantage to be able to face life with a positive and balanced spirit.”—the Dalai Lama
-Victor M Parachin, "Turning Poison into Medicine the Buddhist Way," Spirituality & Health

Change Poison into Medicine

9/15/2026

“Changing poison into medicine begins when we face difficulties with the confidence that we have within us the full resources to overcome them.” —Daisaku Ikeda, Japanese Buddhist philosopher and teacher

The phrase “turning poison into medicine” was first articulated by Nagarjuna (c. 150-250), an Indian Buddhist teacher often described as the “second Buddha.” In his Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, Nagarjuna presents the truth that any person can become “a great physician who can change poison into medicine.” His principle is astonishingly contemporary, optimistic, and hopeful because it specifically teaches that, with right effort and right thinking, a negative can be converted into a positive, suffering can be transformed into flourishing, and pain can be refashioned into power.
-Victor M Parachin, "Turning Poison into Medicine the Buddhist Way," Spirituality & Health

Radical Acceptance

9/12/2026

“You have to learn to accept the good and the bad, just as you do with the weather. You can't change it. So it's better that you fit yourself into the weather.” This wisdom is offered by Sivananda Radha, a yogini, author, and founder of Sivananda Ashram in Burnaby, British Columbia. Her wisdom is a reminder that it is not at all unusual for us to find ourselves in situations we simply can’t change. Rather than deny the reality and avoid it as much as possible, a healthier approach is to apply radical acceptance. When that’s applied, we give the issue less power over us, and a path for moving forward emerges.
-Victor M Parachin, "Turning Poison into Medicine the Buddhist Way," Spirituality & Health

Defeat Negative Thinking

9/8/2026

When obstacles show up in our lives, we seem to have a natural propensity to view the issue in a negative light. Negative thinking is emotionally dangerous because it can block our personal growth, lead us to make bad decisions, and drive us to become the worst versions of ourselves. That’s why it’s important to do a mental reset, directing the mind away from the negative and into the positive.

In Buddhism, this perspective shift is called “right view” and is the first step of Buddhism’s Noble Eightfold Path. Right view means disciplining yourself to silence that inner negative voice, allowing optimistic and hopeful vision to emerge. According to the ancient Indian sage Patanjali, it’s not that complicated. He advises, “When presented with negative, disquieting thoughts or feelings, cultivate an opposite, elevated attitude.”

Anytime you find yourself in a negative frame of mind, acknowledge it and make a transition toward the positive. Doing so will enhance your life, says Swami Vivekananda, who writes, “Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.”
-Victor M Parachin, "How to Build Persistence the Buddhist Way," Spirituality & Health

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