~ Talks & Meditations ~


Although these talks and meditations are freely offered, your donations will support Kate’s teaching,
and make it possible for her to make donations to her teachers and other Buddhist causes.

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The Noble Eightfold Path: Wise Speech (21 mins)
This talk summarizes the characteristics of unwise speech and offers four attributes of wise speech. Pausing before we speak enables us to inquire whether our speech is wise or not. To do this, we can use the THINK acronym: T = Is what I am about to say true: H = Is what I am about to say helpful; I = Is what I am about to say inspiring (does it breathe life into the conversation); N = Is it necessary to say this now; and K = Is what I am about to say kind? This talk was originally given at Healing Circles Langley on November 14, 2019.

The Noble Eightfold Path: Wise Intentions (21 mins)
This talk starts by exploring the connection between intention and karma - the understanding that our actions have consequences. It goes on to look at what constitutes wise and unwise intentions, and concludes with four simple practices for cultivating wise intentions. It was originally at Healing Circles Langley on October 31, 2019.

The Noble Eightfold Path: Wise View (16 mins)
Our view or understanding of life govern our attitudes, thoughts, words and actions. Wise view is about seeing things as they really are - beyond our beliefs, assumptions, attachments, aversions, stories and interpretations. In particular, it is about understanding karma - that our actions have consequences for ourselves - and the reality of the Four Noble Truths. This talk was originally given on October 24, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.
The Fourth Noble Truth: The Noble Eightfold Path
(20 mins)
This talk provides an overview of the Noble Eightfold Path. After offering three images for the Path, it describes the three groups of factors that comprise it: Ethical conduct (wise speech, wise action and wise livelihood), meditation or mental discipline (wise effort, wise mindfulness and wise concentration), and wisdom (wise view and wise intention. This talk was originally given on October 3, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.
The Third Noble Truth: Suffering & Discomfort can be Prevented (23 mins)
In the Third Noble Truth, the Buddha asserts that we can change. By letting go of our attachments and our aversions, and seeing things as they really are, we can prevent suffering and discomfort. This talk was originally given at Healing Circles Langley on September 26, 2019.
The Second Noble Truth: The Causes of Suffering & Discomfort (21 mins)
In the Second Noble Truth, the Buddha identified three causes of suffering & discomfort:
- Attachment to sensory pleasure, beliefs, habits & rules, and a belief in a solid, fixed self
- Aversion, rejection or hatred
- Ignorance of the ways life truly is: impermanent, unsatisfactory, and the absence of a permanent self.
This talk was originally given at Healing Circles Langley on September 19, 2019.

The First Noble Truth: The Universality of Suffering & Discomfort (23 mins)
Suffering & discomfort are universal human experiences. Even though we think of suffering as unpleasant, it has many gifts including: it can make us more compassionate, humble, grateful, and resilient. Suffering also provides a motivation for spiritual practice. This talk was originally given at Healing Circles Langley on September 12, 2019.

Equanimity (19 mins)
Equanimity is the quality of balance and acceptance. It is the heart that can hold everything and anything because it is so vast. This talk explores the factors that prevent equanimity - the Eight Worldly Winds - and four ways to cultivate it. It was originally given at Healing Circles Langley on July 11, 2019.

Sympathetic Joy (32 mins)
Sympathetic joy is about taking pleasure in someone else's happiness, achievements, good qualities and good fortune. It is the idea that we can be happy because someone else is happy or doing well. Sympathetic joy understands that joy, happiness and love are limitless qualities and that the more we give them away, the more we have. This talk and guided meditation were originally offered on June 27, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.

Forgiveness (32 mins)
This talk and guided meditation focus on the benefits of forgiveness and the "three directions of forgiveness" described in Buddhism - forgiving ourselves for the harm we have caused others; forgiving ourselves for the harm we have done to ourselves; and forgiving others for the harm they have done to us. They were originally offered on June 20, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.
Compassion (26 mins)
Compassion is a basic human instinct; it's the way our brains are wired. But our compassion is often covered over by greed, anger, fear, self-righteousness and other unwholesome states. These can be lessened by tuning into the suffering of others, opening our hearts to them and experiencing their distress as our own, and feeling the desire to alleviate it just as we seek to alleviate our own distress. This talk was originally given at Healing Circles Langley on June 13, 2019.

Generosity (24 mins)
Generosity benefits the giver as well as the receiver. After a review of these benefits, this talk goes on to consider three ways of being generous: being generous with our time, talents and treasure. This talk was originally given on June 6, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.

Gratitude (18 mins)
Gratitude is an attitude of mind that has many benefits for the person expressing it, as well as for the person receiving it. It isn't about denying difficult or painful feelings, but it is about holding them in a larger context. By identifying what we can be grateful for and expressing our thanks, we can open our hearts. This talk was originally given on May 30, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.

Universal Friendliness (28 mins)
This talk opens by exploring the connections among seven qualities of the heart that are cultivated in Buddhism: universal friendliness, gratitude, generosity, compassion, forgiveness, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. It goes on to discuss universal friendliness, also known as "metta", loving kindness and goodwill as a practice that opens and warms the heart. This talk was originally given on May 23, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.

Being Mindful of Buddhist Teachings in Everyday Life (21 mins)
Being mindful of Buddhist teachings in everyday life requires remembering the teachings that we have heard, watched or read, and being mindful of our direct experience in the present moment. When these two things come together, we are more likely to try out what we have learned and see if it is true for us. This talk was originally given at Healing Circles Langley on May 2, 2019.

Awakening in the Present Moment (25 mins)
Experiences of awakening in the present moment arise naturally. They are often brief but leave an imprint on our hearts, minds and bodies. Although awakening cannot be forced or willed, we can incline our minds to awakening by training in the Buddha's seven factors of awakening: mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity. This talk was orginally given on April 25 at Healing Circles Langley.

Loss & Grief (22 mins)
Grief is how we respond to loss and death. This talk explores the nature of grief and what it can teach us. It describes three "gifts" of grief. It goes onto to outline six ways of working with loss and grief. This talk was originally given on April 18, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.

MIndfulness & the Environment (29 mins)
This talk explores mindfulness & the environment by presenting a four-part framework that includes developing our sensory awareness of the environment, noticing our thoughts and emotions about it, touching into our hearts, and taking action based on love and caring. It was originally given at Unity of Whidbey on April 11, 2019, as part of Earth & Oceans Month on Whidbey Island.

Awareness & Insight Meditation (23 mins)
What are awareness and insight meditation? This talk starts by describing how to cultivate awareness using two types of mindfulness meditation - meditation with an anchor or primary meditation object and choiceless awareness, without an anchor or primary meditation object. It concludes with a discussion of insight meditation. This talk was originally given on April 4, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.

The Joy of Renunciation (17 mins)
In this talk, I explore renunciation as the practice of letting go of desires, attachments, aversions and things we don't like. This is different from the usual way we think of it. In Buddhism, renunciation is about giving up the sources of suffering so that we can become more joyful, happier and progress towards awakening. This talk was originally given at Healing Circles Langley on February 21, 2019.
The Heart of Love (43 mins)
This talk opens with an experiential exercise and goes on to explore the nature of conditional and unconditional love. The accompanying guided meditation focuses on radiating loving kindness in all directions. The talk and guided meditation were originally offered on February 7, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.
Distracting Thoughts & How to Work with Them
(39 mins)
Distracting thoughts take away our attention to the present moment and although we can't get rid of them we can learn to reduce their distractability. This talk describes five different types of distracting thoughts and suggests tools for working with them. The guided meditation offers an experiential practice for working with distracting thoughts. This talk and guided meditation were originally offered on January 31, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.
Using Wise Effort to Work with an Over-Striving Mind (37 mins)
Many people over-strive in their personal and professional lives, leading to anxiety, exhaustion, and illness. Wise effort can help us to work with this pattern. This talk and guided meditation examines how we can discern what wise effort means for us as individuals. It was originally offered on January 24, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.
Living with Integrity (37 mins)
This talk and guided meditation explores the nature of integrity, as well as what it feels like, and some practices for developing it. It was originally offered at Healing Circles Langley on January 17, 2019 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Intentions (34 mins)
What are intentions, why are they helpful, what are some different levels of intentions, and how can we work with them? This talk and guided meditation was originally offered on January 10, 2019 at Healing Circles Langley.