Deconstructing Yourself

by Michael W. Taft I remember how painful boredom used to feel as a teenager. It was crushing. New television shows, movies, and music just felt like rehashings of old ones. New people reminded me of people who I already knew. Life felt like an endless rerun of the same stale old patterns, and nothing [...]

I remember as a teenager, feeling that the Monty Python joke “my brain hurts” was talking about me. It was clear to me that my biggest problem in life was my own mind. I was very anxious, sometimes experiencing paralyzing anxiety attacks. Have yo ever been so afraid you couldn’t move? But most of all [...]

by Michael W. Taft The name of this blog is “Deconstructing Yourself,” but what does deconstruction have to do with meditation? In short: everything. Deconstructing your experience—in the sense of analyzing or seeing through—is the essence of the meditative endeavor. Specifically, deconstructing your sensory experience, including the experience of being you, an ego. On first [...]