Mindfulness+ with Thomas McConkie

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

A colleague of mine recently asked me, “How do we be love?” As soon as he asked, I felt any intellectual response buckle under the weight of his question. There were no words. But I walked around with the question, and let it in deep. The following meditation arose out of that inquiry, which I’m honored to share with you here.

Love and Blessings on your day. -Thomas 

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

What is Metalineage? Gloria Pak returns to the studios for part II of this lively conversation. How can we take the best from all our influences without sacrificing what we take to be essential? How can the  lineages and traditions that speak to us individually bring one another to a greater fullness? The conversation culminates with a question for all of us: how is metalineage living through you? How will you express your highest values in this life, leaving nothing good behind?

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

This is a special episode. Gloria Pak visits the Mindfulness+ studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts to engage Thomas in a conversation about his recent book, At-One-Ment: Embodying the Fullness of Human Divinity. What does it mean to belong to a tradition? What does it mean to leave a tradition? If we’ve left, are there meaningful ways to continue to embody and bring forth the best of the lineages that form us? How do we engage in our “local-ness” while also making way for the universal wonder of Spirit? Listen in to this soulful exploration of a new kind of spirituality that is showing up on our planet.

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

In an immature contemplative practice, we tend to assume that the whole point is to learn to draw as much pleasure from each meditation session as we possibly can. As we become more experienced, however, we learn that it is natural to traverse many “realms” throughout the day and throughout our lives. The question becomes, can we remain as fully awake in the realm of the gods as we can in the depths of hell. 

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

If meditation practice hinged solely on the effort we put into it, the hours and minutes we logged each day, we’d be in trouble. Sooner or later, we would exhaust ourselves from all our diligent efforting. But the deeper we move into this practice, the more we become aware of effortless practice—the free ride that Nature provides, if we know how to catch that updraft.

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

It is no secret that the Millennial and Gen Z cohort are losing their religion and seeking new ways to feel wonder and awe. But what is it about traditional religion that repels some? In a word, it may be certitude. What would it look like to honor all that our ancestors knew and realized, while being more open than ever to the Mystery and Unknowing of human life? The upcoming generations seem to be asking these questions intuitively, embodying new forms of wisdom on our planet. Listen to Little Moon’s moving anthem to an emergent spirituality: https://open.spotify.com/track/37N7VOw3uyycrCbiB8cDIa?si=d068dfcd57434c25

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

Sooner or later, if we get at all serious about integrating contemplation into our day to day life, we start to wonder what it would look like to have a bona fide teacher to guide us on the path. In this episode, Thomas articulates some of the principles that he has found most helpful in working with teachers of his own, as well as offering students guidance in calling in the right teacher at the right time. 

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. 

Offerings: Join Thomas for a 3-day workshop in Salt Lake City, Utah, January 5-7, 2024. For registration and details, click here.

Also, check out Thomas’s new book here

 

Waiting is something we end up doing just about everyday of our lives. And what makes waiting so difficult? Perhaps it’s the belief that if we could only be done waiting, then we would finally feel better. Given the situation, it would be wise to cultivate the art of waiting. That is, when we learn to bring our highest awareness to the experience of waiting, we discover that we will never need to wait again!

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 here

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