David Jones is a retiree after an enjoyable 35-year career with the American government. Diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, he works through things by sitting with the breath and other meditation techniques. David writes about mental health and enjoys exploring the intersection of Abrahamic religion and Buddhist teachings. Scary movies, reading, writing and helping folks as they walk along their paths are among his most favorite things. He dearly loves his wife, their five children, and all their grandchildren. And yes, he’s aware that he’s weird.
Dharma Talk by John Brehm {Book Review}
John shows us in words how well poetry and mindfulness fit together with awareness and attention to the world around us.
An Alphabetic Primer of Mindfulness
By David Jones What is mindfulness? There are so many definitions, explanations, articles and books that it all just gets a bit much, doesn't it? People who were mindful before mindfulness was cool are 'mad about the fad' it became. And it's gone from an aspect...
Mindfulness and Cognitive Impairment: How Mindfulness Helps Me After a Stroke (or 10)
By David Jones On September 2nd, 2019 I had a migraine, and along with it a small stroke (a Transient Ischemic Attack or TIA) on the left side of my brain. I lost most of my vocabulary for a few hours which made answering questions in the ambulance and the...
The Need to be Right
By David Jones One of the biggest challenges in American Buddhism today is the need to be right. And few things can feed the need as strongly as the Noble Eightfold Path, all thanks to the word "Right." In the quest for Middle Way thinking, we're...
Mindful Parenting: Building Empathy at All Ages
By David Jones Empathy is a vital piece of any relationship puzzle. If we can't understand how a person feels, they can become something we simply aren't connected to. Then there are folks on the other end who get swamped by other people's feelings. I'm in that...
How to Recover after We Mess Up
By David Jones I feel awful when I mess up, but when there's collateral damage---when my failure impacts others, letting them down---man, I'm a mess. Those pernicious accusing voices that show up with anxiety or depressive episodes, those nagging self-doubts,...
Integration After Satori: Struck By the Lightning, Living in the Thunder
By David Jones Enlightenment. Awakening. Kensho. Satori. An opening of the eyes. An epiphany. A burst of insight. That proverbial bolt from the blue. While other faith paths respect and honor the sudden life-changing moment when eyes which were blind can...
What is Beginner’s Mind?
By David Jones Allow me to sing the praises of Beginner's Mind. It has helped me with Religious Deconstruction and has reawakened my curiosity about things I'd learned long ago. It also challenges me to reconsider all the teachings, views, and...
Parenting Mindfully and Discipline
By David Jones How were you disciplined growing up? Spanking with a hand, a stick, or a paddle? Did you memorize the smell of the room corner your nose was stuck in during time out? Was it all yelling and fury? Were you grounded, maybe sent to your room, or to...
12 Points on Establishing Boundaries as a Mindful Parent (and why it’s necessary)
By David Jones So many things are involved in trying to raise strong, healthy children. Some seem really obvious like diet, exercise, and being grateful. But there's a particular social building block we don't want to neglect---boundaries. Healthy boundaries...