It Is Never Too Late to Turn on the Light

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I'm going to read a couple of lines from one of your writings that we talk on this show about changing habits, and, you know, the voices in our heads. It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn't depend on how long it has been runnng. When you flip the switch in that attic, it doesn't matter whether it's been dark for ten minutes, ten years or ten decades. The light still illuminates the room and banishes the murkiness letting you see the things you couldn't see before. Ye it certainly helps us a not not feel so isolated or different

Sharon Salzberg is one of the worlds best know Buddhist teachers and a leader in meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. She teaches both intensive awareness practice (vipassana or insight meditation) and the profound cultivation of lovingkindness and compassion (the Brahma Viharas). She is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

In this episode, Eric and Sharon discuss her book R eal Happiness At Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace.

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Sharon Salzberg and I Discuss How to Bring Lovingkindness to Your Life …

Her book, R eal Happiness At Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace.
Lovingkindess is the fundamental sense of connectedness to ourselves and each other
Compassion is recognizing the universal vulnerability of ourselves and each other
The fundamental teaching of “everyone wants to be happy“
Remembering that it’s never to late to make a change
How the mind is naturally radiant and pure
The “visitors” that obscure our mind
The essential question of asking what we really need to be happy
How mindfulness is about training to find “the place in the middle”
Balancing repression and indulgence in our emotions
Whether Buddhism teaches that desire is the core problem
Making decisions from a “climate of wisdom”
The four types of enemies (outer, inner, secret, and most secret)
How to deal with these enemies
The importance of setting intentions
Watching our thoughts like an elderly person watches children in a park
How the difference between happiness and misery depends on where we place our attention.