Some people who call themselves spiritual leaders are brimming with charm and charisma and hold out tempting promises of enlightenment and inner peace. They may or may not live up to these claims, and their legitimacy can be hard to evaluate. Therefore, you should listen to your own inner wisdom and decide for yourself.

When we embark on a path of spiritual inquiry, our default attitude is to approach this process with the same goal-oriented mindset we are used to applying in other areas of our lives. This can twist spirituality into something we excel at, potentially obscuring the reasons why we began this journey in the first place.

People often embark on their spiritual path after seeking various material goals, such as money or power. After a while, they realize these goals are empty and don’t lead to happiness, and they begin to seek spiritual goals, especially perpetual enlightenment. If you can learn to accept that enlightenment is neither a permanent state to attain nor a goal to pursue, this realization can diminish your suffering and help you stay present in the current world.

Anattā is the Buddhist concept that the experience of a distinct self is an illusion. According to Buddhism, the source of suffering is the illusion of self—that is, the ubiquitous belief that there exists a unique, separate, and unchanging part inside us that constitutes a consistent “Me” and to which things happen. This makes everything, including suffering, personal—we find ourselves thinking, “I am suffering,” which in turn increases our suffering.

Zen kōans are stories, statements, or questions for which a solution is sought, but no such solution or answer exists. Mu’s meaning, at least as popularized by Robert M. Pirsig in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, is, “No class; not one, not zero, not yes, not no," or, in short, “Unask the question.”

When you want to accelerate your personal development or work on an issue intensively, a retreat can be very helpful. In an environment where everything is set up to support your progress, including professional guidance from skilled and compassionate facilitators, you can rapidly achieve results that would otherwise take a long time.

Fear can distort our perceptions, making threats appear larger than they are. When we run from our fears, they grow, potentially overwhelming us. Only when we stand up to the things that scare us can we determine how great the dangers really are and respond accordingly.

Unless we take conscious steps to protect our sleeping environment, we are likely to suffer from shorter-duration, lower-quality sleep. This affects every aspect of our lives, from our health to our relationships to our ability to focus. Sleep hygiene refers to any strategies that enable us to sleep more deeply, restfully, and consistently.