Kevin Griffin: Dharma and Recovery

October 13, 2026 Powerlessness and Agency

Using the Daily Contemplations as a frame for exploring control and the lack of control. The challenge of Right Effort.

October 6, 2026 How Do We Practice?

Exploring the challenge of finding our own way on the path.

September 29, 2026 Concentration and Insight

Exploring the role of concentration in meditation and its relationship to the other factors of the Eightfold Path.

September 22, 2026 Loving Kindness Toward Oneself

Reflecting on suttas about self-love.

September 15, 2026 Unsettling Emotions in Meditation

Responding to a question about difficult feelings.

September 9, 2026 Love and Fear

Bringing kindness to anxiety and fear. This includes trust in ourselves and in the Dharma.

September 1, 2026 Walt Opie on Joy in Recovery

Walt discusses “the pleasure of non-reactivity.”

August 25, 2026 Four Noble Truths and Causality

Looking at how the Four Noble Truths outline the process by which suffering arises and ceases.

August 18, 2026 Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness

Exploring difficult experiences in meditation.

Don't Know

August 11, 2026, exploring the Korean Zen saying “Don’t know,” which challenges us to examine our beliefs.

August 4, 2026 Thought versus Proliferation

Distinguishing ordinary passing thoughts from the ones that sweep us away in meditation. How to work with the proliferating thoughts.

July 28, 2026 The Obstruction of Self

How self-consciousness gets in the way of being present and enjoying life.

July 21, 2026 The Mirror of the Hindrances

Looking at the simile of the bowl of water and the five hindrances.

July 7, 2026 The Dart

Exploring the classic sutta The Dart which tells how aversion increases the suffering of our pain.

June 30, 2026 Meditation for Recovery

Talking about what the connections are between Buddhism and recovery and the role of meditation in that connection.

June 16, 2026 Entering Your Own Mind on Retreat

As I leave for a weeklong self-retreat, I talk about the fear of being with my own mind.

June 9, 2026 The Dharma of Pain

Looking deeply at how physical pain connects with impermanence and not self.

June 2, 2026 Insistent Visitors

Reading from Jack Kornfield’s “A Path with Heart” on working with difficult emotions.

May 26, 2026 Chasing Comfort

How throughout our days and lives we seek pleasure and comfort. Working to develop equanimity around the changes experiences of mind and body.

May 19, 2026 Two Kinds of Thought

Exploring the sutta “Two Kinds of Thoughts” (Majjhima Nikaya 19) which talks about letting go of unwholesome and cultivating wholesome thinking.