Enlightened Living

Mindfulness practice in everyday life.

Michael J. Formica, MS, MA, EdM is a psychotherapist, social scientist, and educator in Westport CT. He is an Initiate in the Shankya Yoga lineage. See full bio

Enlightened Living

January 30, 2010

The Making of the American Junkie

Relying on medications to solve our problems has become the rule, not the exception. No matter whether our issues are medical or emotional, we have become conditioned to reflexively reach for that little blue pill, rather than address the underlying concerns.

January 26, 2010

Avatar, Self-Realization and the Collective Conscious

Very often, we need things spelled out in black and white, and, in terms of spirituality, the film Avatar does this handily, drawing on everything from quantum physics to Gaia Theory to self-realization to the Atman/Brahman dissonance. The film -- decidedly lacking the opacity of a spiritual teacher or nuance of a Zen koan -- slaps us in the face with notions of universal interconnectedness, existential crisis, spiritual revelation, personal evolution, and global responsibility in a decidedly unsubtle fashion.

January 25, 2010

The Paradox and Coincidence of Mindfulness Meditation

The epitome of mindfulness is meditation. To use the phrase "mindfulness meditation" is like saying "meditation meditation" or "mindfulness mindfulness". This malapropism is due in large measure to the co-opting - and misapplication - of language brought into the common consciousness by the teachings of Thich Naht Hahn, as well as the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn.

January 20, 2010

Ten Elements of Effective Relationships

The other day, a friend pointed out that I very often write from the perspective of what people are doing wrong, as opposed to what they are doing right. Well, here are some things that I have found to be effective elements in a successful relationship; the right stuff. Read More

January 11, 2010

The Co-dependent Dynamic and the Myth of Getting What You Want

Exercising the intrinsic desire that people act in a particular way in order for us to get our needs met is the emotional equivalent of squeezing a dry sponge. Even the most evolved of us operate from some position of egoism - sometime even narcissism (they're different) - and agenda that precludes agency over the behavior of others. Why, then, do we fail to recognize that people are, by and large consistent, and run headlong into the neurotic behavior that perpetuates the frustration of such relationships for us?

January 8, 2010

Change Happens from the Inside Out

A Buddhist monk stops at a newsstand to purchase a newspaper. He hands the proprietor a $10 bill. After waiting a moment, he says, "May I have my change?" to which the vendor answers, "Change comes from within." For our external world to change there must first be a shift in our interior landscape.

January 5, 2010

10 Steps for Creating a More Conscious Life

A recent tandem read of Aldous Huxley's The Perennial Philosophy and the Isherwood/Prabhavananda translation of the Bhagavad Gita (Huxley wrote the preface to this version) prompted me to draw what I consider some evolutionary lessons from the conversation between the warrior Arjuna and the deity Krishna on the battlefield at Kurukshetra; small teachings that for some may weave together a tapestry of potential growth and change in the coming year. Read More

December 21, 2009

Diversity, Tolerance and the Perils of Ego

The Ugandan parliament recently introduced a bill that would make it illegal to be homosexual or advocate in any way same-sex relationship. Fast on the heels of this legislation is a similar bill that stands before the Rwandan parliament. What this positionality roundly, and sadly, suggests is that the only traits that we, as a species, have managed to perfect in the past 10 billion years are how to hate, fear and marginalize those who are different.

November 25, 2009

Lessons in Resilience

Yesterday a wise and beautiful old soul I know sent me a text - "The defining factor in our lives is not the resources that we have, but our resourcefulness". Her words reminded me of one of my former students who, at 17, became a paraplegic. Despite what most of us would consider almost insurmountable adversity, he responded to his circumstances with a strength and alacrity from which we all might learn.

November 17, 2009

Stuckness and How It Is That We Stay There

Very often we do not see what is right in front of us. In the case of the fish, he doesn't know that he's wet. In the case of ourselves, it is more often that we do not have a clear grasp of the interior mechanisms that inform our choices, and how those choices then shape our lives, and our relationships. And just like the fish, when we find ourselves out of our comfort zone, we struggle and fight to get back to what we know, no matter how toxic the water.

Spirituality Basics

Spirituality means something different to everyone. For some, it's a personal lord, for others a feeling in the wind. Research shows that even skeptics can't stifle the sense something greater. Humans can't help but ask big questions, even if there's no one there to answer them.

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