Use code SUMMERPRACTICE for a 25% discount on all On Demand Courses through August 31.

Search Sangha Live

Change the story, change your life

With Brian Dean Williams recorded on June 25, 2017.

Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.

We live our lives through stories – about the world, and about ourselves. You may have noticed these stories surfacing in awareness in your meditation practice. We often cling to these stories as being “true”, yet holding this wrong view conceals that these stories are impermanent, cause suffering, and ultimately, are not personal.

In this session, we have the chance to explore how some ideas from narrative therapy might inform our Buddhist practice, and help to liberate us from the constraints of stories that cause suffering, and to re-author ourselves into stories of liberation. Meditation, instruction, and discussion as a global online community will help us down this path.

Listen to the audio version below, or click here to download the mp3.

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • From Dukkha to Freedom: Dharma in Times of War and Crisis

    Recorded : January 28, 2024

    Intense times of war and crisis can and does often lead to intense Dukkha. But a crisis can also serve as a bedrock to spiritual breakthrough, deepening of liberating insights and openness of the heart. The Upanisa Sutta talks about the possibility of stepping out of Samsara: that Dukkha can lead to Sadha, i.e faith and trust,…

    Read More

  • Kaira Jewel Lingo

    Reverence is the Nature of My Love

    Recorded : October 9, 2022

    The Diamond Sutra, possibly the oldest text on deep ecology, teaches that there are four notions that separate us from life that we must throw away: the concepts of self, lifespan, humans, and living beings. In this session we will learn practices that enable us to go beyond this limited perception of reality to touch how interconnected with all life we are.

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Not-other: knowing our solidarity with all beings.

    Recorded : April 30, 2017

    Dharma teachings point at the way our experience is not-self. This also means that everyone else is not-other. In this class we explore the ways we isolate and defend ourselves, and reach for and reject others, looking towards a greater inclusion of and intimacy with others as the ground for both better relationships and true…

    Read More

  • Sophie Boyer

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Sophie Boyer – Week of March 27, 2022

    This week’s topic is “Movement in Stillness”. The flow of life is unpredictable, and its instability and the changes it presents often throw us off balance. The Buddha suggests adopting an approach where beauty and freedom can emerge at the center of this “movement in stillness.” Throughout this week, we will explore the challenges that arise when facing the realities of birth, life, and death, and how open, stable attention and clear perception can support a deeper understanding of the natural flow of all things.

    Read More

  • Brian Dean Williams

    S.A.L.S.A.: Using Buddhist practice to Respond to “Spicy” Emotions

    Recorded : June 9, 2019

    Life presents plenty of opportunities to react unconsciously, often creating harm for ourselves and others. How might we apply our Buddhist practice to “Spicy” situations and emotions, in order to respond wisely? In this session, Brian will draw on Stephen Batchelor’s work and propose a working acronym of “S.A.L.S.A.” to navigate life’s spiciness and act…

    Read More

  • Lisa Ernst

    Working with Stress and Fear

    Recorded : July 17, 2022

    Not all stress is bad. Yet without mindful awareness, anticipatory stress may spiral into reactivity, paralyzing fear and suffering. How do we meet this stress mindfully, use it skilfully, then let go?

    Read More