Weekly Messages
How We Broke Religion (And How We Can Fix It)
Religion often does more harm than good. Damn! I hate that. Because it could be a powerful pathway toward healing—our souls, our world.
Healthy Souls … And the Enneagram
The Enneagram. A centerpiece of our curriculum for the soul -- Working the Circle. Have a listen.
Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Days (2)
We continue last week's exploration of how we turn our afflictive experiences from enemies that destroy us—to friends that enhance us.
Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Days (1)
A bunch of days like that day lately, Right? They can make us better people. They can also make us terrible people. The former is better! Have a listen.
Where Does Tenacity Come From? (5)
We finish this section on tenacity, with one of the strengths of our community -- how human beings change, grow, and develop. We've distilled the ancient spiritual practices to an easy-to-remember icon -- "Working the Circle." Have a listen.
Where Does Tenacity Come From? (4)
We're talking about how carefully considered routines help us live tenaciously -- long, sustained effort in the same direction. In the livestream notes last week, one commenter asked in essence, "So yeah. Noticing my habits. Noticing my routines. Got it. But how the...
Where Does Tenacity Come From? (3)
Shared routines, carefully considered, allow us to sustain commitments over the long haul, even when we don't have the internal infrastructure in place, to build new habits. Hey! we can do that with one another. Have a listen.
Where Does Tenacity Come From? (2)
People of our time, people working on the most important moral issue of our day -- racial harm, racial inequity -- must be tenacious. We must be tenacious, because racism is tenacious. Have a listen. Another principle in how we develop tenacity.
Where Does Tenacity Come From? (1)
People of our time will be about the slow, steady, dismantling and rebuilding of systems that create inequity -- especially racial inequity -- generation after generation. We'll need to be tenacious! How does that happen? Have a listen.
Why Meditation Matters in a Crisis (3)
Crisis evokes "fear-brain." And fear-brain shuts down the best thinking, big-picture seeing, and sends us into evolutionary instinct, survival mode. The spiritual tradition gives us wisdom and practices, to help us do better.
Why Meditation Matters In A Crisis (2)
Far from naval-gazing narcissism, meditation opens us to the kind of new possibilities this moment in history is demanding of us.
Why Meditation Matters In A Crisis (1)
Meditation won’t cure a virus or stop fake news. But it will break down tribal blindness. And that’s a big component in the crisis we now face.
People of Courage
Let’s think about how courage helps make us people of our time.
Becoming People of Our Time
“The greatest glory lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail” (Nelson Mandela). Our nation has failed. Each of us has failed. AND, we can rise again. We can do better.
Wisdom is Slow. Fear is Fast.
That makes “the good life” tough. So, we walk the spiritual journey together. We help one another stay on track! This week we explore together, how to keep rising rise above our fear-brains.
The “Other” Isn’t the Enemy
Sure looks like it! We do behave very badly. But the real enemy is the fear driving our bad behavior. This week: dealing with the real enemy.
Let’s Talk About What Happened This Week
It was kind of a s***storm week at Common Thread. Listen to us aspire to do better living in a racially divided world.
Damn! How Did the Virus Get Political?
It’s fear. Our brains on fear, are nothing if not predictable. In this lesson, we talk about rising above our own fear, AND, being patient with others in theirs.
Getting Comfortable—Being Uncomfortable (2)
Uncomfortable is a cleverly disguised invitation to live on a higher plane. But it’s an easy invitation to miss, an easy invitation not to ignore. Have a listen
Getting Comfortable—Being Uncomfortable (1)
Turns out, the spiritual tradition has a lot to say about that. Have a listen.
Thriving in Uncertainty
We continue a spiritual theme we began on Easter. How do we thrive, when there is chaos and uncertainty all around us, and there's no end in sight? Have a listen.
Easter in the Time of Virus
How to thrive in times of uncertainty and pain.
Our Best Selves … Together
At life. At the spiritual journey. In times of crisis. We're better together. Today's lesson starts with stories I've heard since the virus began, encouraging us to be in it together.
Help Others. Help Ourselves.
Whatever helps us become ego-self forgetful, helps us access the Inner Divine, our better angels. No time better for that than this, the time if virus. Have a listen.