Beginning a conversation is an act of bravery. When you initiate a conversation, you fearlessly step into the unknown. Will the other person respond to favorably or unfavorably? Will it be a friendly or hostile exchange? There is a feeling of being on the edge. That nanosecond of space and unknowing can be intimidating. It shows your vulnerability. You don't know what is going to happen. You feel quite exposed. There's a chance you'll experience embarrassment. Yet this very feeling is what allows you to connect to the other person.

― Sakyong Mipham, The Lost Art of Good Conversation: A Mindful Way to Connect with Others and Enrich Everyday Life

I have always found a natural relationship between running and meditation. Running can be a support for meditation, and meditation can be a support for running. Running is a natural form of exercise, for it is simply an extension of walking. When we run, we strengthen our heart, remove stagnant air, revitalize our nervous system, and increase our aerobic capacity. It helps us develop a positive attitude. It creates exertion and stamina and gives us a way to deal with pain. It helps us relax. For many of us, it offers a feeling of freedom. Likewise, meditation is a natural exercise of the mind—an opportunity to strengthen, reinvigorate, and cleanse. Through meditation we can connect with that long-forgotten goodness we all have. It is very powerful to feel that sense of goodness: having confidence and bravery in our innermost being.
― Sakyong Mipham, Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind

One of my favorite sayings is “If you want to be miserable, think of yourself. If you want to be happy, think of others.
― Sakyong Mipham, Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind

There is a direct correlation between physical exertion and mental relief.

 ― Sakyong Mipham, Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind 

Running and meditation are very personal activities. Therefore they are lonely. This loneliness is one of their best qualities because it strengthens our incentive to motivate ourselves.
― Sakyong Mipham, Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind

One of my favorite Tibetan sayings is “Even if you’re going to die tomorrow, you can learn something tonight.

  ― Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into an Ally 

The wise are balanced, and the foolish are extreme.

 ― Sakyong Mipham, Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind 

What is really happening in meditation is that we are developing the ability to think when we want to, and to not think when we don’t want to.

  ― Sakyong Mipham, Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind 

When stress is the basic state of mind, even good things stress us out. We have to learn to let go.
― Sakyong Mipham, Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind

 

Many of us are slaves to our minds. Our own mind is our worst enemy. We try to focus, and our mind wanders off. We try to keep stress at bay, but anxiety keeps us awake at night. We try to be good to the people we love, but then we forget them and put ourselves first. And when we want to change our life, we dive into spiritual practice and expect quick results, only to lose focus after the honeymoon has worn off. We return to our state of bewilderment. We're left feeling helpless and discouraged. It seems we all agree that training the body through exercise, diet, and relaxation is a good idea, but why don't we think about training our minds?
― Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

 

the present moment is always some kind of beginning

“If we do not push ourselves enough, we do not grow, but if we push ourselves too much, we regress. What is enough will change, depending on where we are and what we are doing. In that sense, the present moment is always some kind of beginning.”

― Sakyong Mipham, Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind

Movement is good for the body. Stillness is good for the mind. Sakyong Mipham

Winning Gen Z isn't About Likes

Soccer tournaments, scavenger hunts, and what a mayoral race is actually teaching us about 2026. Santiago Mayer Apr 20, 2026 

https://santiagomayer.substack.com/p/what-zohran-got-right-about-young?r=1gvbwc&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true

Being Human: empathy, realism, creativity, and resilience

Don't look for peace. Don't look for any other state than the one you are in now; otherwise, you will set up inner conflict and unconscious resistance. Forgive yourself for not being at peace. The moment you completely accept your non-peace, your non-peace becomes transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will get you there, will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender.

― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Awareness is the greatest agent for change.

 ― Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose 

As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love - even the most simple action.
― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

What a liberation to realize that the “voice in my head” is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that.
― Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

 All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.
― Eckhart Tolle

Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Eckhart Tolle