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Articles from Dr. Robert Puff | Selfgrowth.com
- The Paradoxical World of Spiritual Enlightenment: We are nothing but we are everything - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2012 from Dr. Robert PuffWhen we wake up to who we are, something happens. We stop identifying with our egoic selves because we realize they are impermanent and only that which is permanent can be who we are. We aren’t our bodies, we aren’t our memories, we aren’t our thoughts, we aren’t our feelings… We aren’t any ...
Views: 1454 - What Shakespeare Can Teach Us About Enlightenment: All the world’s a stage - by Submitted on Jul 23, 2012 from Dr. Robert PuffWhen I was an undergraduate at university many years ago, my deep enjoyment and love for the works of William Shakespeare blossomed. I had the privilege of taking a Shakespearean class and then during one summer in my undergraduate years, I was able to travel through Europe inexpensively on a ...
Views: 2907 - The Most Powerful Mantra: Learn to Lose the Ego and Awaken to Who We Are - by Submitted on May 13, 2012 from Dr. Robert PuffWho we are is very simple. We are the Supreme Reality. Everything comes from that and is a reflection of that. We are really like the sun and our lives that we’re experiencing right now are like the dewdrops that are reflecting the sun. Another way to look at it is to see life as a dream. We are ...
Views: 1875 - What can help me achieve enlightenment? Begin your journey with the right tools - by Submitted on May 01, 2012 from Dr. Robert PuffWhen it comes to living in the moment and being more enlightened, you might have some questions that you’d like answered. For instance, you might be saying, “Dr. Puff, how do I reach that point? Is there anything I can do to speed up the process of waking up and of having a life filled with the ...
Views: 1234 - Empower Yourself With the Here and Now: End Your Mental Suffering with Spiritual Enlightenment - by Submitted on Mar 27, 2012 from Dr. Robert PuffLife is in constant flux: people and jobs come and go, we learn new things while forgetting the old, and different events take place. Our lives and views change. A seventeen-year-old boy might believe popularity is of crucial importance, whereas a sixty-seven-year-old man might believe that ...
Views: 1182(2 votes) - Three Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment: Earnestness, Concepts, Being-ness - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2012 from Dr. Robert PuffThere are three important steps which are crucial aspects in moving in the direction of living an enlightened, awakened life. Any one of us can take these steps. The first step is “earnestness.” To achieve enlightenment, you really have to want it. Saying, “I’ll work during the day, sleep ...
Views: 1160(1 vote) - Understanding God: Moving from Concepts to Spiritual Enlightenment and Nonduality - by Submitted on Feb 24, 2012 from Dr. Robert PuffWho are we before anything else ever was? When we take away everything impermanent, who are we at our core? Although God may be the ultimate, our concepts of God are not. Though religion plays a beautiful role in this conceptual world of ours, it prevents us from God because it labels God. ...
Views: 1853(2 votes) - Total Recall of Who We Are: Stop Thinking and Start Being - by Submitted on Feb 22, 2012 from Dr. Robert PuffThere is a movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger called Total Recall. A large part of the movie revolves around Arnold’s character discovering who he really is. We all want to know who we really are. Unless we settle into thinking, “Well, this is my life and I’m not going to think about it,” we ...
Views: 1148(1 vote) - The Ultimate Cause of Everything: Connect with Your Ultimate Self - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffWhen looking at causation, we need to ask: What causes things? What is the ultimate cause of everything? By taking a look at the universe we can see that everything is interlinked at such a level that we can’t help but wonder if anything really can happen. We need to understand that it’s up to ...
Views: 988(2 votes) - Winning the Bronze Medal in Life: What My Kindergartener Can Teach Us - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffMany of us put a lot of pressure upon ourselves to achieve. When we don’t live up to our expectations, we are often very hard on ourselves. Furthermore, we have an incredible tendency to compare ourselves to other people. If we don’t live up to these imaginary lines of success that we have ...
Views: 1240(2 votes) - Waking Up To a New Reality: Living with Awareness - by Submitted on Oct 09, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffI wrote a poem based on a Zen tradition and it describes aspects of enlightenment: I wake up, rain washes the trees, smells are fresh, spring is abounding now, then I wake to the illusion I’m dreaming. Enlightenment is about waking up to the reality that life isn’t real. It’s ...
Views: 994(2 votes) - Agathism - The Best Way to Live Our Lives - by Submitted on Oct 07, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffAbout three years ago, I was driving a Toyota Forerunner that had been in my possession for about 14 ½ years. It had 274,000 miles on the odometer and it was still running, although of course, not perfectly. I finally decided that I needed a new car, and since I have a tendency to keep the ...
Views: 1455(2 votes) - Learning To Live Spontaneously: Loosening Our Hold on Fear and Desire - by Submitted on Sep 25, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffLife is a dance between two intense emotions: fear and desire. We go back and forth between these two throughout our lives. But what we’re exploring here is what precedes and pervades life before desire and fear. Who are we, foundationally, before these two emotions that we go back and forth ...
Views: 1946(2 votes) - Mental Stillness and Being Present: Key Ingredients of Happiness - by Submitted on Sep 23, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffIf you were to ask me, “What is the key, essential component of happiness?” or, “What is a fundamental element of happiness? my answer would be simultaneously simple , yet very complicated. Here, I’d like to explore the fundamental element of happiness. When we “get it,” when we understand it, ...
Views: 1294(7 votes) - How To Live With Desires: Identifying with the True Self Instead of Letting Desires Control Us - by Submitted on Sep 18, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffWhen we desire something, we first have to work for it. Often we find ourselves spending a large amount of mental energy thinking about it, wishing for it and wanting it to happen. But after working for it, we should let go and just be. Living in a state of beingness means that we do the ...
Views: 1047(2 votes) - Life Is But A Dream: Waking Up from the Dream of Life - by Submitted on Sep 18, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffWhen we think about our lives, the people in our lives, the work we go to, the city we live in, the galaxy we’re a part of and the whole universe, we think of it as so real, tangible, ever present and everlasting. But because we perceive it in our minds and we can only perceive that which our ...
Views: 1172(2 votes) - How Can I Achieve Happiness? How the Natural State is the Key to Pure Happiness - by Submitted on Sep 18, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffAs we go through life, sometimes we have beautiful experiences. They are so wonderful that we are filled with a desire to hold onto them for as long as possible. But why we can’t hang onto them and why they go away is because we can only remember them in the mind. The mind itself is not ...
Views: 1066(1 vote) - The World Exists Because We Do: Changing How We Perceive the World and Ourselves - by Submitted on Sep 13, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffSome questions we need to ask ourselves when finding out who we are and how to live in the world in an enlightened way include: “What are the various states of being in which we exist?” and “What ultimately is our true, primordial, foundational state of being?” As human beings we exist in ...
Views: 893(2 votes) - What Is Really Real? How Awareness and Beingness Open the Doors to the True Self - by Submitted on Sep 11, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffEverything that is, everything that ever will be, everything that has ever been, can only occur because we are bearing witness to it. Everything exists simply because we are aware of it. Without us, nothing can be. The entire universe unfolds from our true self: our consciousness, which is also ...
Views: 1147(2 votes) - The Ultimate Purpose of Meditation: Meditation’s role in enlightenment - by Submitted on Sep 11, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffI began meditating almost thirty years ago. I think at first I began just out of curiosity. I had been studying meditation in my academic training and learned how science has shown that meditation is very beneficial to us. When I started meditating I found it to be a very relaxing, peaceful ...
Views: 1034(3 votes) - Awakening Your True Self: The power of awareness - by Submitted on Sep 11, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffIn this life, the most permanent thing we experience is witnessing awareness. It begins when we are born and it goes away when we die. But beyond this witnessing, beyond the most permanent thing that is part of our life, is that which truly is. That which we ultimately are cannot be ...
Views: 1171(2 votes) - Cause and Effect: Suspending time to achieve beingness - by Submitted on Sep 09, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffWhat causes things to be the universe, us, everything that is? Time and space play a huge role in causation. Physics, Einstein and scientists around the world have concluded that we live in a space-time continuum. The only way we’re able to conceive of this, however, is in the mind. The ...
Views: 1024(2 votes) - Dealing With Past, Present and Future: The power of here and now - by Submitted on Sep 06, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffIn life we experience two main emotions: one is pleasure, the other is pain. They come and they go; they are a normal part of the human experience. But what happens is that our minds try to maintain the good and push away the bad. It’s a kind of tug-of-war where we say “I want this” and “I don’t ...
Views: 1976(2 votes) - Discover the “I Am”: Embrace the infinite possibility of the real you - by Submitted on Sep 06, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffKnowledge is one of the things that prevent us from awakening. Why? We think we know many things and knowing these things keeps us from being awake. To gain awareness we need to unlearn what we know, or think we know. We need to let go of every piece of knowledge and just be. In the East they ...
Views: 1347(2 votes) - My Personal Journey Into The World of Meditation - by Submitted on Aug 26, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffI began meditating in my late teens after I was exposed to the research of Herbert Benson, who wrote the book The Relaxation Response. It was a wonderful study into how people meditate and the benefits of meditation. It was basic but very helpful. It got me interested in both practicing and ...
Views: 1114(4 votes) - Finding The Answer To “Who Am I?”: Lose the labels and learn the art of beingness - by Submitted on Aug 26, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffBefore anything can be known, before anything can come into existence, there must be someone who is the background to all that exists. When we wake up in the morning, everything blooms in our awareness. But would it all be there if we weren’t around? Can there be anything without us first being ...
Views: 909(3 votes) - Walking Meditation: Some great tips and strategies for understanding how to perform a walking meditation - by Submitted on Aug 25, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffMost of us think of meditation as sitting in the lotus position with the eyes closed, but there is a form of meditation called “walking meditation” that is wonderful, relaxing, and something you can do anytime, anywhere. This type of meditation is a way of finding time to meditate even ...
Views: 902(2 votes) - Discovery Who We Are: We Aren’t Who We Think We Are - by Submitted on Aug 27, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffIronically, one of the main things that keeps us from awakening to our true nature is knowledge. We think we know things, and knowing these things keeps us from being awake. Our belief that we have true knowledge keeps us caught up in our perceptions, labels, and opinions, making them appear as ...
Views: 1103(2 votes) - The Essence of Who We Are: Living in the Now - by Submitted on Aug 27, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffThe infinite reality of now is what life is really all about. In many ways, we have created a prison around ourselves. The walls are all those limiting ideas of who we are, who others are, and what life is. Practice neti neti: not this, not that. Let go of all the false identifications you have ...
Views: 1118(2 votes) - Meditation Helps Us With Our Attachments: When You Need to Let Go - by Submitted on Jun 26, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffWhat are attachments? How can they cause us suffering and how can meditation help with our attachments? First, what are attachments? Simply put, attachments are anything that we need in order to be happy. “I have to have this or I will not be happy. Without this person or without this ...
Views: 2475(2 votes) - Meditation Can Reduce the Intensity of Pain: Medication or Meditation? - by Submitted on Jun 18, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffRecently my daughter slammed her hand in the door and it was very painful for her. I had done a similar thing many years ago and initially it was a very painful experience for about maybe ten seconds. I started to breathe slowly and deeply and the pain went away quickly. There still remained ...
Views: 1092(2 votes) - Why We Don’t Meditate: And How We Can Change This - by Submitted on Jun 18, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffLet’s explore why we don’t meditate twice a day? Some of us do, but many of us don’t meditate when we should. People come home after a long, hard day of work, finish their day and fall into bed without meditating. There’s simply ‘no time’ for meditation. But why don’t we find the time? ...
Views: 1209(2 votes) - Boosting Our Self Confidence: The Magnetic Personality We Create - by Submitted on Jun 09, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffThis article is inspired by one of my listeners from the Netherlands. She is recently divorced and is rebuilding her life. She wanted some advice on how to build self-confidence again. I decided that in response to her e-mail I would like to address using meditation as a means to boost our ...
Views: 1665(1 vote) - How to Feel Beautiful: Feel Beautiful and Celebrate Ourselves - by Submitted on Jun 02, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffOur culture, around the world, puts so much pressure on us to look good, to stay young, and to stay beautiful. Why? How does this impact us? There are many reasons why. One, from more of an evolutionary stance, is that being beautiful encourages people to procreate. Women who are younger ...
Views: 1322(1 vote) - Meditation, Einstein and Living in the Moment: Has Your Life Gone to the Dogs? - by Submitted on May 28, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffI have an assistant at my work named Einstein. He’s a yellow lab and he’s been coming to work with me for about twelve years now, since he was a puppy. Though he’s a great help with children and other clients that I see in private practice, helping them feel comfortable; he’s an ever greater ...
Views: 1150(2 votes) - Meditation and Labyrinths - by Submitted on May 24, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffLabyrinths are walking meditations that go way, way back in time. Archeologists can date them all the way back to 1500 BC but they are probably much older than that. We can find them all over the world, in churches, cathedrals, old ruins, and now many spiritual retreat centers have them. ...
Views: 1037(1 vote) - Waking Up at Princeton: It’s Not Always The Degree You Get That Makes You Smart - by Submitted on May 20, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffMany years ago, when I began working on my first Masters Degree at Princeton, I had an experience that really helped me change my life and put me on a new path, a new direction for how to live my life. Towards the end of my degree I had made many accomplishments while at Princeton. I had was ...
Views: 882(1 vote) - Waking Up at Princeton: It’s Not Always The Degree You Get That Makes You Smart - by Submitted on May 20, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffMany years ago, when I began working on my first Masters Degree at Princeton, I had an experience that really helped me change my life and put me on a new path, a new direction for how to live my life. Towards the end of my degree I had made many accomplishments while at Princeton. I had was ...
Views: 1097(1 vote) - The Pursuit of Happiness: What are you seeking? - by Submitted on May 17, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffWe all seek for many things. Some of us seek for money. Some of us seek for fame. Some of us seek for love. Some of us seek for health. But I believe, at its core, what we are ultimately seeking for is happiness. “I’ll be happy if I find the love of my life… if I have enough money, I’ll be ...
Views: 1199(2 votes) - Creating A Place To Meditate - by Submitted on May 12, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffChildren love a routine at night when they are preparing for bed. Putting them to bed, reading them a story, singing to them; whatever the routine is that a parent may have, calms them and relaxes them. When children go on a road trip in the car they do so much better when they have something ...
Views: 1445(3 votes) - How To Meditate Anywhere - by Submitted on May 12, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffWhere can you meditate? Do you need to have a quiet place free from all distractions and noises or can you actually meditate anywhere, anytime, any place? Many people live in crowded cities or areas where it’s busy. Does that mean that they can’t meditate? Is it possible to meditate even when ...
Views: 1492(1 vote) - Meditation, Awakening and Enlightenment - by Submitted on May 07, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffPeople from the Eastern hemisphere are probably more acquainted with the term or the word “Enlightenment.” If you’re from the Western hemisphere, you probably are acquainted with the term “Awakening”. So what is “Awakening” or “Enlightenment”? In the Western tradition Abraham Maslow was really ...
Views: 1010(2 votes) - Meditation and Earnestness - by Submitted on Apr 25, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffPerhaps the most important concept or discipline I can teach you is “Earnestness”. When I was younger, while I had been introduced to mediation, I wasn’t earnest in practicing it until later in life when I realized how mediation so closely related to my own growth as a person. For me, it was a ...
Views: 1271(1 vote) - Morning Meditation: A Peaceful Way to Start our Day - by Submitted on Apr 21, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffMorning meditation is such a key part to our day. I want to look at it together and explore how we can make it a wonderful, transforming experience so that our day can go well each and every day. When we first wake up in the morning, we have echoes of the previous night; echoes of our ...
Views: 1405(2 votes) - Living a Meditative Life - by Submitted on Apr 19, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffMeditation is a wonderful experience, but so often so many people out there stop meditating and their mind goes back to being extremely busy, active and non-attentive. They leave the meditative state of mind to go back to the every day world. I like to encourage people to truly keep their self ...
Views: 1105(3 votes) - Meditation and Fear: How to Find Relief from Our Fears - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffWhat are fears? Fears are something that we have created in our mind after, usually, having a negative experience. I say “usually” because fears cannot only come from our own experiences but also from those of others also. A lot of people have different fears. The main ingredient of fears is ...
Views: 1430(2 votes) - Meditation and Your Health: How to Reduce Stress with Meditation - by Submitted on Mar 28, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffImagine for a moment that you are holding your arm out to the side and you just hold it there. No big deal, right? But keep holding it there, and keep holding it there, and keep holding it there. With time your arm will begin to ache and become painful. Unless you do something, you will have ...
Views: 992(3 votes) - Eating Well and Mindfully: Living a Meditative Life - by Submitted on Mar 19, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffYou may ask yourself, “What do meditation and eating have to do with each other?” The answer is that they actually have a great deal to do with each other. What happens in the day is that we tend to get so busy that we’re not 100% present with “what is” and we really miss out on wonderful ...
Views: 1221(4 votes) - Meditators, Dancers, & Mind-Body Awareness - by Submitted on Mar 19, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffHave you ever gone through a day when you’re very, very busy and you have to get things done so even though you are hungry you just keep going and slowly that hunger sensation turns into a headache? I’ve seen this happen to my wife a lot when she’s busy and she just forgets about, or puts aside ...
Views: 1220(4 votes) - The Stabilizing Power of Meditation - by Submitted on Mar 13, 2011 from Dr. Robert PuffAs we go through life things happen to us to get us off course. Things that make us wonder about the true benevolence, kindness and love of life and the universe. The beauty of meditation is that when you meditate you truly get grounded with life and you are able to see how everything is ...
Views: 1024(4 votes)