Dharma explorations by Stephanie Noble

From over fifteen years of sharing her understanding of Buddhist concepts

  • The Incredible Shrinking Man

    That’s what my husband called himself after his annual physical. He’d lost two inches in height. Not overnight, of course. Two inches off of what he had stated as his height all his adult life. I remember when I started shrinking. It was a little disorienting, but also fascinating to see how attached I was…

  • What’s the difference between empathy and compassion?

    (Following up on a comment on the last post.)Empathy is inherent to brain development. From a very young age most of us are able to pick up on the emotional states of others. This ability is a benefit to the development of relationships, but it can also be problematic if a child is surrounded by…

  • The earth teaches us true compassion

    The earth provides us with everything we need to live. It’s a model of compassion. How different is the earth’s compassion from the way we fashion our own? First, consider that the earth is there for all beings. It doesn’t pick and choose who is worthy to walk on it. And you never see the…

  • What gets in the way of loving-kindness?

    When we see how loving-kindness (metta in the Pali language) makes all the difference in our lives and in our relationships, why is it sometimes so difficult to muster? Believing that metta is finiteWhen we practice sending metta we are activating our natural sense of generosity. This generosity comes in part from understanding the nature…

  • Awakening to Choice

    In the previous post we looked at finding magical moments of mindfulness in the middle of everything. I offered examples of how to come fully into whatever moment you’re in and the joys to be found there. But there’s even more magic in being fully present. In each moment of mindfulness we can recognize that…