Written by David Nichtern

I had a major epiphany once while playing with our family’s chocolate toy poodle, Leroy Brown. I realized that he’s just trying to be happy. Sometimes when he’s trying to be...

Written by David Nichtern

Three separate but synchronous conversations led me to recently explore the topic of contentment.

The first was with childhood friend and fellow musician, Christopher Guest...

Written by David Nichtern

Boredom is an underrated experience in the modern world. The rate at which new information, new opportunities, new entertainment, new distractions are coming towards us is a...

Written by David Nichtern

It seems that almost everyone I know feels that they are racing against time, even those of us who are meditation teachers! Our world is rich and diverse and there are so ma...

Written by David Nichtern

The practice of meditation allows us to look directly at who we are. It has a kind of naive quality to it in that we don’t assume anything. Buddhist practice is similar to t...

Written by David Nichtern

Some say we human beings are the custodians of this planet Earth. Many ancient traditions, both Asian and European, have held the view that the role of the leader includes h...

Written by David Nichtern

In Buddhism, there is a lot of discussion about cultivating mindfulness and awareness. In a nutshell, mindfulness is the ability to pay attention to something, to hold your ...

Written by David Nichtern

The practice of cultivating loving-kindness (maitri in Sanskrit and metta in Pali) is a Buddhist approach toward opening one’s heart to others. It is very ancient, very simp...

Written by David Nichtern

When I met my teacher, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1971, I felt an overwhelming sense of connection. At the time I was attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and...