Audio versions of many of these practices are available at http://www.shambhala.com/the-meditator-s-dilemma.html and at www.billandsusan.net/meditatorsdilemma

yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries. —Blaise Pascal

I understood immediately that certain things—attention, great energy, total concentration, tenderness, risk, beauty—were elements of poetry. And I understood that these elements did not grow as grass grows from a seed, naturally and unstoppably, but rather were somehow gathered and discovered by the poet, and placed inside the poem. —Mary Oliver

In meditation, as the sense of self is investigated, it is seen as transitory and continuously constructed moment to moment. It is to be held lightly. It is not a thing, but an ongoing process.

the first step in creating the holding environment is giving ourselves permission to meditate in a personally creative and meaningful way, rather than force ourselves to align with traditional instructions.

Learning to stay receptively attentive when the mind is settled is one of the high arts of meditation. Generally we are either (a) attending to something actively, (b) spaced out, or (c) absorbed in an experience. When mindfulness becomes more stable and is accompanied by relaxation and interest, a fourth mode of perceiving becomes viable. Attentio

There are two kinds of light—the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures. —James Thurber

Our emotional needs matter. This is our North Star. We want to know how meditation can help improve our balance of mind, increase our focus, and decrease our stress.

Paradoxically, most beginning meditators hold an unexamined assumption that discursive thinking will diminish as meditation deepens. However, because thinking is a part of our wiring, thoughts will not completely stop as we progress in meditation, any more than sounds or physical sensations will disappear. This simple misunderstanding creates inter