Many forces are competing for your attention, especially online. Some are noble and righteous. Some are not. Trying to track it all is...exhausting. I talk more about this in a recent episode of my podcast, Buddhism Beyond Belief. Enjoy wherever you listen to podcasts.

The best practice I know for creating healthy boundaries is meditation. It teaches us to work with the movements of mind to invest attention or withdraw it with discernment. I talked about this more in depth in a recent newsletter. Join here: https://openheartproject.com/

Wow! This is exciting and I want to take a moment to thank you for listening to my podcast, Buddhism Beyond Belief. It's been a joy to talk with you about the dharma, my own life as a practitioner, and music.  Enjoy Buddhism Beyond Belief wherever you listen to podcasts.

In this week's podcast episode, I look at the power of meditation to establish strong boundaries for your heart and mind—not to become less engaged, but to meet the world with intense clarity, compassion, and purpose. New episode out now.

No one may notice the small ways you care for your environment. That's okay. Such unseen acts shape your heart, relationships, & the spaces you share with others. I share more in my book, Inexplicable Magic: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

Spiritual practice isn't something that happens on a mountaintop. It also happens in the way we keep house and engage in conversation. More on cleaning up as a spiritual practice in my book, Inexplicable Magic: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

As my mother enters hospice care, I've been thinking about one of the first meditation instructions I ever received: to rest more fully in the out breath.  That simple instruction has come to mean something much more. If you listen, I hope you will find this beneficial.

One of the most important things I've learned in 30+ years of meditation practice is the necessity of boundaries.  I talk more about this in my new book, Inexplicable Magic: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

Spiritual practice isn't about being open to everything. It's about learning which thoughts, voices, and inputs deserve your attention—and which do not.  I talk more about boundaries in spiritual practice in my new book: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

Spiritual practice is not about relinquishing ideas of self by force. It doesn't work that way! In this new episode, I take up one of the core principles of the Open Heart Project: the willingness to feel as a gateway to true realization. Listen wherever you enjoy podcasts.

Real courage is not about being fearless. It's about being unafraid of fear, not to mention rage and confusion. I talk more about recognizing painful emotions as forms of wisdom in my new book, Inexplicable Magic: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

Though many of us come to meditation with broken hearts, it doesn't make heartbreak disappear—it teaches us resilience. I go into detail about this and 6 more principles of spiritual practice in my new book, Inexplicable Magic: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

No one was meant to be on the spiritual path alone. When we try to meditate and contemplate our lives in our rooms by ourselves, the magic leaves. In this new course, you'll receive personal guidance so the practice meets you right where you are: https://openheartproject.com/30-days-of-dharma/

Recently, a Tibetan Lama told me what the most important spiritual teaching is: the Four Reminders.  Also in this episode: I answer a listener question about spirituality vs the "real world" and play another of my favorite songs, this one from Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. New episode out now.

When the world feels like it's lost its mind, we have a path back to basic sanity to bolster us.  Join me and Michael Carroll on retreat from August 10–18.  Sign up here: https://www.dralamountain.org/program/pbs826-proclaiming-basic-sanity-living-the-bodhisattva-path/

It's easy to see meditation as a self-improvement project. It's actually something different — a way to meet the wisdom, compassion, and courage that are already present within you. Learn more in my new book, Inexplicable Magic: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

In this episode, I explore the sixth principle from my new book, Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics:  We Dream on Behalf of Others.  To hold on to our capacity to dream matters in a world that wants to diminish our vision. Enjoy wherever you listen to podcasts.

Most of what matters in your life was not engineered through will. It just... showed up. That's the ground of my new book, Inexplicable Magic: the quiet, easy-to-miss forces moving under an ordinary day. Out now: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

Join me and Michael Carroll, my friend and colleague, for a meditation retreat at Drala Mountain Center this summer. August 10–18, 2026 Sign up: https://www.dralamountain.org/program/pbs826-proclaiming-basic-sanity-living-the-bodhisattva-path/

It was great to talk to Shannon Watts, author of Fired Up, about my new book, Inexplicable Magic, and the much misunderstood topic of ego being a problem on the spiritual path.    Now available for purchase: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

Inexplicable Magic is about the kind of knowing that arrives on its own rather than something you produce.  In this book are seven things mystics actually practice, written for people with ordinary lives. Out now: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

It's important to keep dreaming. What we can't imagine, we cannot build.  The 6th of the 7 principles in my new book, Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics, is "We Dream on Behalf of Others." Learn more: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

At a certain point, the effect of meditation practice is felt in the rest of our lives: our relationships, homes, work, creativity, finances, and choices about how to live. That shift inspired my new book, Inexplicable Magic: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

My favorite of the 7 principles of spiritual practice is the prosaic-sounding "We Clean Up After Ourselves." There's tangible magic to an ordered space. Learn more in my new book, Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

I'm a Buddhist teacher & the NYT bestselling author of many books, including The Four Noble Truths of Love. I'm the founder of The Open Heart Project, a virtual meditation community with 20,000 members.  Learn more: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

A steady meditation practice is great, but there's more to discover when you bring your meditation mind into your everyday life. Read my new book and find out for yourself: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

Spiritual practice encourages openness... but not a total lack of discernment about what truly supports your journey. My new book, Inexplicable Magic, counters the assumption that we must accept everything that comes our way: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

In my new book, Inexplicable Magic, I explore the wisdom that comes with opening to our feelings rather than pushing them away.  Learn more: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

I'm so happy to see my new book out in the world and in your hands. Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics shares that meditation is not a life-hack. It is a spiritual practice. You can learn more here: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/

In my new book, Inexplicable Magic, I go into detail about how what is personal isn't an obstacle to awakening. The personal is actually the path to waking up.   My new book is now available: https://openheartproject.com/inexplicable-magic-meditation-for-mystics/