You’ve heard something like this before—without death, we could never know the preciousness of life. When a loved one falls ill, suddenly our relationship with them is imbued with an entirely new quality. But what happens when the loved one who falls ill isn’t human? What if it’s a lake whose life we mourn? In this season finale, Thomas shares about a close friend of his who initiated him in death, and Great Salt Lake, who is now in dangerous decline. He invites us all to reconsider what personhood is, and what it might mean to open our hearts to the lands that sustain us.

If you feel fed by the show, please support Mindfulness+ by sharing with a friend, leaving a review or making a tax-deductible donation to Lower Lights School of Wisdom. We’re grateful for your support!

Want more guidance from Thomas? Come to our monthly online practitioners retreat.
Have a practice question for Thomas? Leave a voicemail Voicemail. We would love to hear from you. 

Also, check out Thomas’s new book here

Confusion gets a bad rap. When we feel clear, when we know who we are and where our life is headed, we often suppose that this is a desirable way to be. On the other hand, when we feel confused, it’s as if we can’t quite relax. There’s a queasiness in our body that we long to get rid of. But what if clarity and confusion are just two facets of a single gem? What if we need confusion to truly be clear, and clarity to unlock the power of “divine confusion?” Have a listen to this episode and see if your relationship to confusion doesn’t start to shift straight away. 

If you feel fed by the show, please support Mindfulness+ by sharing with a friend, leaving a review or making a tax-deductible donation to Lower Lights School of Wisdom. We’re grateful for your support!

Want more guidance from Thomas? Come to our monthly online practitioners retreat.
Have a practice question for Thomas? Leave a voicemail Voicemail. We would love to hear from you. 

Also, check out Thomas’s new book here

“Mindfulness” is a word. And words have their power. When we call this practice “mindfulness”, it sets us up to have a particular kind of experience which in some ways, can be limiting. In this extended meditation, Thomas uses the word “heartfulness” to turn the tables and open up a new dimension of experience that perhaps you wouldn’t have expected—the boundless Reality and Intelligence of the Heart.

If you feel fed by the show, please support Mindfulness+ by sharing with a friend, leaving a review or making a tax-deductible donation to Lower Lights School of Wisdom. We’re grateful for your support!

Want more guidance from Thomas? Come to our monthly online practitioners retreat. 

Also, check out Thomas’s new book! https://www.amazon.com/At-One-Ment-Human-Divinity-Thomas-Wirthlin-McConkie/dp/1953677169/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1XK028CQKCUQV&keywords=atonement+mcconkie&qid=1698159281&sprefix=atonement+mcconki%2Caps%2C73&sr=8-1 

Have a practice question for Thomas? Leave a voicemail Voicemail. We would love to hear from you.

Mindfulness is a counter-instinctual practice–it gives us strength to turn toward the aspects of our lives that we would prefer to avoid.

Like sunshine disinfecting a musty cellar, the light of awareness purifies those parts of our mental/emotional lives that fester. It’s time to spring clean!

Welcome to season 3 of Mindfulness+!

Thomas opens the new season in the afterglow of a soul-stirring gathering in Spring City, Utah. He shares a poem from Adi Al-Riga that has informed his practice and soul work over the last 20 years. May this episode remind you of your own passion.

Starting February 6th, you can join a live call with Thomas and Mindfulness+ listeners from all over the world. Thomas will guide meditations, offer insights on different techniques and approaches, as well as discuss questions with participants. Come get your Zen on with a new online community. Register at http://mindfulnessplus.org

It’s such a human thing to wait for the right conditions and suppose that once things are finally the way we like them, we’ll be happy. In this final episode of season 2, Thomas invites the “Kingdom of Heaven” to be now, and for the Zendo to always be open.

The present moment often seems rather dull and unremarkable to the ego. But when we learn to pay attention, to taste the flavor of all that is passing in order to give rise to this moment, then life presents itself as extraordinary. Donate at www.minfulnessplus.org.

What can the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, teach us about mindfulness practice? Quite a bit, actually. Thomas describes two critical dimensions of practice in this episode: liberation and virtue. Like Arnold, you can learn to exercise different muscles for that perfectly symmetrical build.

In this episode Thomas whisks us back to early 19th century Japan for an aesthetic feast in the form of a haiku. This is a poem that captured his imagination as a teenager when he was starting out on the path. Perhaps it will capture yours too.

The three natural states are described metaphorically in Hinduism as waking, dreaming and deep sleep. But what is the practical value of becoming familiar with these states, even proficient? One possible answer that Thomas suggests is Freedom and Love. Join this guided tour and see for yourself.

Our monthly, extended guided meditation to help you get in your groove for Thanksgiving. At the deepest level, we’re not grateful for things so much as we are gratitude itself; always thanks-giving through our very being.

It seems almost common sense to believe that our happiness depends on what kinds of experiences we’re having in life. “Not so!” say a number of prominent researchers in the field of positive psychology. It turns out that how focused we are on the task at hand is the real predictor of how happy we feel. Learn the concepts, exercise your happiness muscles in this show. And please support us at www.minfulnessplus.org.

One of the great joys of contemplative life is that it teaches us to be who we actually are. By holding our attention inwardly, rather than being scattered about by a million different things, we nourish the best, most unique parts of ourselves. As the unique self comes into being, it becomes a gloriously original expression of Creation through which we can offer our fullest gifts to everyone and everything.

If you feel fed by the show, please support Mindfulness+ by sharing with a friend, leaving a review or making a tax-deductible donation to Lower Lights School of Wisdom. We’re grateful for your support!

Want more guidance from Thomas? Come to our monthly online practitioners retreat. 

Have a practice question for Thomas? Leave a voicemail Voicemail. We would love to hear from you.

I’m so happy to introduce Dr. Lynn Bauman to the Mindfulness+ community. Lynn is a renowned scholar and seasoned spiritual practitioner in his own right. In our conversation, I ask him about his conversion experience to Wisdom when he was young as well as some of his feelings about the Gospel of Thomas, for which he is widely known as a preeminent translator. Get his book here.

A longer, more luxurious meditation this month for all you Mindfulness Plussers. What happens when we don’t assume that life is one problem after another to be solved? What do we become aware of when there’s nothing to complain about, no problem to be found? Find out in this episode. And please support this nonprofit podcast by donating at mindfulnessplus.org!

When we get something for free, no matter how valuable it is, we tend to value it less. When, on the other hand, we receive a gift deeply and offer something back in return, we relate to the gift in a whole new way. You’re invited to explore your relationship to the Dharma in this episode, and to donate to Mindfulness+ to support our future programming! Visit mindfulnessplus.org.

Check out this episode for a morsel of timeless wisdom from the Desert Mothers and Fathers. We can spend our whole lives struggling and striving, trying to be good enough; trying to earn love. If we will, however, we can become all flame!

If you are under the impression that the human body has precisely one brain, you are not alone. Modern Western culture has been studiously ignoring our other two brains for hundreds of years. Take a tour through your many brains in this episode and reacquaint yourself with all you forgot you knew!

One of the earliest teachings of Buddhism remains as insightful today as it was thousands of years ago: if we can learn to separate the tangle of sensory experience into organized piles, we gain insight into our true nature, which is Freedom, and Joy.

Our monthly extended meditation: practicing without effort. Enjoy this guided tour of awareness while doing any activity you please. Maybe don’t try to operate any heavy machinery on your first listen!

In this episode Thomas revisits a classic teaching–beginner’s mind–and adds a polarity spin: The more deeply you plunge into the ocean of possibility, the more powerfully you find yourself living an inspired life and engaging in the world.

Generally, we experience life in a linear way unfolding through time–something happens in this moment, it fades into the past and we make our way into the future. But there are moments where the experience of time can fade away altogether in to a richness to full to speak of. Far from an esoteric experience, we humans were made to know Eternity. Listen in on this intimate episode and see if you can’t already taste the timeless.

When we are children, we get upset countless times a day. If we don’t get to play with the toy we want, if we don’t get to have a sugary snack on demand, we cry, we protest, we pout, we mope. In these moments, we need soothing from our caregivers to help our bodies reset. It turns out, we’re not so different as adults. We also get upset many times a day. The difference is that as adults, we often disconnect from the body through various avoidance strategies rather than just hold our “inner-toddler” through the pain. But we can change! We can learn to hold ourselves, to soothe ourselves during these emotional storms. And when the storm breaks, which it always does, we find a new degree of mastery over ourselves and all of life.

If you feel fed by the show, please support Mindfulness+ by sharing with a friend, leaving a review or making a tax-deductible donation to Lower Lights School of Wisdom. We’re grateful for your support!

Want more guidance from Thomas? Come to our monthly online practitioners retreat. 

Have a practice question for Thomas? Leave a voicemail Voicemail. We would love to hear from you.

We all know the familiar dopamine rush of buying some consumer good, or getting into a new relationship. If we’re not paying close attention, we can easily come to believe that new objects and relationships are the very things that make us happy in life. The classic Buddhist teaching of Seeking Mind teaches us otherwise. Ultimately, we can come to a place of No Seeking where Happiness and Love reveal themselves to be the very essence of who we are.

We’re reviving an old tradition at Mindfulness+. Once a month, a lengthier meditation on a germane topic. This month’s meditation is PIE, or, Positions, Interests and Essence. This practice is in learning to love others as your very own Being.

A friend of mine recently emailed from the campaign trail in Texas and said she’d been meditating with her staff to help manage the stress. She wrote, “I’d really like to center our meditations on the idea of approaching the ‘opposition’ humanely and with love.” Ahhhh, full stop. What a very beautiful thing to want. In response, I offered a few classical passages and a meditation to brings us more fully into this experience of other-as-self.

The Gospel of Thomas is a surprisingly mind-jogging text that reads more like a collection of Zen koans than a book from the Christian canon. In this episode, Thomas (not to be mistaken with Thomas) shares a saying from this ancient text and ties it to a classical Buddhist teaching. In this episode, as in life, you are invited to be happy, whole, and complete.

Our seeking mind rejects the present moment outright and says, “not yet”. "One day I will be happy, one day I will wake up. But not yet." Awakened mind, on the other hand, simply says, “Perfect.” Thomas shares a parable from the sands of Venice Beach, California and invites Mindfulness+ listeners in this episode to surf their life.

Language is a tool that can clarify experience and deepen our insight. At worst, it can also pull the wool over our eyes, tricking us into believing that we know much more than we actually do. When we learn to pick language up as a useful tool and put it down when its job is done, we can enter into deeper presence, wonder. We can enter into the immensity of Life.

When we go chasing after extraordinary experience, we block the flow of grace that is always available. Paradoxically, relaxing deeply into the present moment and not seeking anything special is the surest way to invite a special experience. Enjoy storytelling, poetry and eyes-open meditation in this dynamic episode.

Life can feel effortful. Frustrating and effortful at times. The practice of mindfulness is powerful because it can help us learn to ride invisible waves; help us move with the flow of Nature rather than against it. In this episode, Thomas shares a rather shocking story about pig hearts and what that means for living a life of “Doing not Doing.”

This week in the United States we celebrate independence. There are so many beautiful things about independence. And yet, like all things, it can go too far. Too much independence leads to an illusion that we are alone in the world, and have accomplished what we have all on our own. At Mindfulness+ we celebrate Interdependence Day, a Buddhist-inspired practice that invokes a sense of gratitude and humility for all the conditions that sustain and support us.

In traditional Christian practice, congregants pay a tithe–one tenth of their earnings to support the church. How can we put this time-tested practice to work toward waking up? In this episode, Thomas explores the possibility of tithing your attention as a way of honoring the source of your spiritual sustenance. It’s not to be missed!

When we think about getting to know somebody, our minds often go to spending time with them, asking them questions about their life, about what they value, what they love. But the beloved Sufi poet, Rumi, offers us a surprising nugget of wisdom in this regard: you truly get to know another by what you are able to say in their presence. Check out the show and start to put this timeless wisdom into practice today.

If you feel fed by the show, please support Mindfulness+ by sharing with a friend, leaving a review or making a tax-deductible donation to Lower Lights School of Wisdom. We’re grateful for your support!

Want more guidance from Thomas? Come to our monthly online practitioners retreat. 

Have a practice question for Thomas? Leave a voicemail Voicemail. We would love to hear from you.

A continuation of the lessons on the Energy Centers, i.e. Money, Sex, Fame, Power. This week Thomas discusses extreme monetary wealth as an unrecognized form of obesity in modern culture. Learn to recognize in this episode how much awareness you unnecessarily commit to feeling more secure, and reconnect with a profound sense of security at the heart of this very moment.

I take a moment in this episode to reflect on my brothers and sisters who are incarcerated and the inspiring way they’ve practiced since I joined their sangha as a guest teacher back in 2015. In this episode you’re invited to notice the places in your life where you don’t feel free. Don’t settle for anything less than freedom. Mindfulness is a practice of liberation and you were born to be free.

In this episode, Thomas deepens the conversation on Energy Centers by describing the theory behind them as well as pointing them out in a very practical and personal way. You will gain insight during this episode into the areas of your life that call for more awareness and compassion.

This episode opens up a series on how to bring mindful awareness to those areas in our lives that tend to pull us down and compromise our higher values. If we want to grow up, we’ve got to grow down. In order to express our most profound gifts and capacities as human beings, we have to pay special attention to our foundations; get back to the basics.

Continuing the conversation from last episode, Shinzen talks more specifically about what we can each do to achieve not just good results, but dramatic and life-changing results from our mindfulness practice. Visit Shinzen.org and unifiedmindfulness.com to learn more about his highly innovative work.

Join us with special guest, Shinzen Young, to learn from his over 50 years of experience in meditative practice. Shinzen is regarded as one of the great pioneers in bringing the best of Western science and Eastern contemplation into a deeper union. It is hard not to learn 10 new things every time this guy opens his mouth. Visit Shinzen.org and unifiedmindfulness.com to learn more about his work.

It's that time again–a longer, deeper guided meditation to support your ongoing practice. In this episode, Thomas leads a body-mind-spirit yogic "stretch" to help you inhabit ALL OF YOU a little more fully, freely, and joyfully.

Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl, famously quotes that "when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." It is a beautiful mantra for our mindfulness practice. We often think about freedom and happiness in terms of escaping from certain conditions. Frankl inspires us not to escape FROM oppressive conditions, but to escape INTO them; to fully meet them, allow them to inform us, and respond from a deeper truth.

Many a well-intentioned meditator has tried to get at the roots of the judging mind to no avail. It seems the more mindful we become, the more we're aware of our petty, judgmental, always-evaluating minds. But do not despair! In this episode, Thomas makes a key distinction for listeners between judging and being judgmental. When we realize that our judgments are never the final truth, we open up to a new space in our awareness that can appreciate life much, much more. We can even appreciate all of the judgments that so effortlessly bubble up in awareness.

There is no small amount of anxiety around the impact technology is having on human life. From a mindfulness perspective, many believe that technology is decreasing our attention spans and intensifying the monkey-mind effect we all suffer from to some extent. But what if technology is just a reflection of our inner state–not the cause of our ADHD but merely an effect? Furthermore, what if we used technology to deepen and express our mindful awareness instead? What kind of world would that be? Discover how you can get technology working FOR your practice in this new episode.

Every few episodes, Thomas likes to take a break from the content and storytelling and get right into practice. Here he explores the way we can access a fundamental sense of freedom and joy by shifting attention in a slightly new direction. It’s so easy to do you almost won’t believe it.

If you feel fed by the show, please support Mindfulness+ by sharing with a friend, leaving a review or making a tax-deductible donation to Lower Lights School of Wisdom. We’re grateful for your support!

Want more guidance from Thomas? Come to our monthly online practitioners retreat. 

Have a practice question for Thomas? Leave a voicemail Voicemail. We would love to hear from you.

John Kesler joins us in the studio to share insights into mindfulness, developmental psychology, and the art of living an inspired life. His practice, what he calls Integral Polarity Practice, is an elegant model that deeply integrates the most profound wisdom from both Eastern and Western traditions. Enjoy the beautiful teaching that flows through John without his saying a word, and learn more about his work at theippinstitute.com.

A continuation of last week’s episode, Thomas leads an extended guided meditation on still point practice, pointing out different qualities in awareness the way a chocolate connoisseur would skillfully point out different flavors and notes in an exotic cacao bean. Find a place to settle in and enjoy a tour of the True Self! Also, check out lowerlightsslc.org <http://lowerlightsslc.org/> for additional resources to support your practice.

Let’s face it–we are all creatures of habit. And although habit creates efficiencies in life and helps us get things done, it can also trap us in patterns of behavior that create suffering for ourselves and others. In this episode, Thomas introduces the practice of finding the “still point.” When we live in the still point, our habits start to soften and give way to greater creativity, spontaneity, and skillful action in the moment. With practice, we can all learn to live as an effortless flow of grace.