Ed and Deb Shapiro

Loving Just This Moment

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Given the state of the world today it’d be totally understandable if we were dreading the holidays, the new year, or whatever might happen next, instead of feeling joyful and full of anticipation. Yet this new year has a very special effect: it makes us believe we have the chance to start over, to do […]

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Fear Sucks

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We’re all dealing with fear right now: Fear of catching or dying from covid, fear of what will happen next, of maybe losing your job, of loneliness, loss, depression, the list goes on. We’re also dealing with political lies and conspiracy theories, let alone environmental disasters. That’s a lot to cope with and fear really […]

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Do You Want To Be A Guru?

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Every day we get emails proclaiming the latest discovery, teacher or workshop we MUST do if we are to have lasting happiness and self-mastery. Each proclaims we will be freed, transformed for ever, even fully enlightened. We received notice of a Guru Training program where we can become a guru in two weekends after which, […]

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Wherever You Are There You Are

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It is one of life’s greatest ironies that no matter how much we want to be different, wherever we go there we are. There’s just no getting away from ourselves. Go on holiday – there we are. Win the lottery – there we are. Move overseas – there we are. Wherever we look, we are […]

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Are You Happier Today Than You Were Yesterday?

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Are You Happier Today Than You Were Yesterday? We were in Thailand, attending a ten-day silent meditation retreat in the middle of a coconut grove. Every day Ajahn Maha Dharma Tan, a Thai monk, would come to teach, and he would ask us the same question: “Are you happier today than you were yesterday?” As […]

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If You’re Not Here Then Where Are You?

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Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. John Lennon Who said life would be like walking the yellow brick road, or that the human condition would be easy? And why is it so important to be here? What’s the big deal? It appears that the reason we’re generally not happy […]

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Extending Loving Kindness

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Now, more than ever, we need to be kinder. It is so easy to blame others, be distrustful, or to hate anyone who seems different. Being kind and loving takes patience, caring and thoughtfulness; it is is the profound realization that everyone counts, that everyone matters. The story goes that, at the time of the […]

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Let’s Make Compassion Fashionable

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If we genuinely want to end hatred, bigotry, racism and abuse, if we genuinely want to bring real change to the world, then there is only one place to begin. We have to stop the war within ourselves by opening our hearts to ourselves and to all others, equally, for there will never be peace […]

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Making Friends With Panic

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Making Friends With Panic   Through Covid-19 we have been launched into the great unknown. It no longer seems relevant or even practical to make long-term plans, as everything is subject to such indeterminable change. The truth that all things are impermanent and can change in a flash has never seemed so real. But for […]

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