Our power to change

Our power to change

What is the key to personal change?  As I dwelled on this somewhat tricky question, I recalled the words of Huineng, the 7th century zen master who spoke of “self awakening to self nature” and “sudden practice with sudden awakening”. What...
Mindfulness: Becoming a fad?

Mindfulness: Becoming a fad?

I was first introduced to mindfulness as a young boy growing up in Sri Lanka, and I can tell you that being asked to sit for hours in the lotus position and focus on your breathing is simply not fun, particularly when you are seven! Even as a child, I intuitively knew...
Why we fail to change: Lessons from a Nobel laureate

Why we fail to change: Lessons from a Nobel laureate

I first had the opportunity to hear Daniel Kahneman speak in a cramped lecture theatre. This was when I was a fresh faced economics undergraduate grappling with the ideas of so called human rationality. Now reading Kahneman’s latest book, Thinking Fast and Slow,...