Is it only me or is it totally exhausting talking to people, especially people you sort of know?

Take me at work, for example. When I talk to people at work, I feel this immense self-imposed pressure to fit in. I feel like I need to pretend like I care about what is being said, even though in actuality, I don’t give a hootenanny. I tell myself, I need to endure this in the name of looking like I belong, so I strap on a...

Spiritual teachers say most people are unconscious and that we need to "wake up" in order to stop the suffering. But what does that mean? What does it mean when they say some people are unconscious, asleep? What does it mean to wake up? And the real important question, how can I tell that I'm unconscious or awake?   

Let's start at the beginning.

Let's say we are all a little...

For years, I was self employed. Not the glamorous kind of self-employed, but the kind that puts you into utter poverty. It took coming close to bankruptcy for me to get a job.

However, the thing that broke the camel’s back and got me off my ass looking for a job was not the fear of going bankrupt, which isn’t to say that it wasn’t a big motivating factor. No, it was actually the isolation. I realized just how cut-off...