A Liberating Discovery

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Julie Tallard Johnson

“I live life from my side.” This is the zero point agreement. This means we take responsibility for our life and experiences. This of course is the theme of my book with the same title. When we succeed at living life from our side, we flourish at life. One practice (not found in the book) that accelerates the satisfaction quotient in our life is to explore a dynamic. (Exploring a dynamic is a practice we do in the Zero Point Circles I hold in Madison and Prairie du Sac.) This “attitude of exploration,” along with consciousness around a particular dynamic … Continue reading →

How to Love The Writer’s Life

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Julie Tallard Johnson

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You probably know what I am going to say. If you want to love your life as a writer all you have to do is: write. Yup, you called me on it. But there’s more (hey, I’m a writer and a therapist, of course there’s more!) The more is this: When we stay with our writing we come to love it, warts and all. When we take the time to write, we discover so much about ourselves, the world we are in, and the worlds we create through our writing. Because writing benefits the body, mind and soul (check out … Continue reading →

Feel Haunted by Your Past? Here’s How to Free Yourself

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Julie Tallard Johnson

Our life is a storied life. Basically, we are either living “reruns” of old stories or creating and living the story of now. I can only answer the question “What am I to do?” if I can answer the question “Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?” –Alasdair Macintyre, Scotish philosopher We are haunted by our past until we consciously choose to give up an old story of ourself and live in the story of now. Eckhart Tolle refers to this as the “power of now,” I understand it as the STORY OF NOW. The power of now is about … Continue reading →

Prostrations to the Three Jewels

Posted on June 7, 2009 by Julie Tallard Johnson

The three jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha, the Dharma (truth/wisdom) and the Sangha (spiritual community). So where is the Buddha? Where is the dharma? Where can we find enlightenment, freedom, and truth? Where is our spiritual community? That which you seek, whatever it is, will be found in giving up the search and simply focus on the practice itself. If it is the Buddha we seek, all we have to do is practice. It is also through the practice of our spiritual principles that we are protected. For example, when difficulty happens to me instead of getting angry, afraid, or … Continue reading →

Not Getting All Caught Up

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Julie Tallard Johnson

It is so important that we learn to trust our experiences while at the same time not get caught up in them. We do get to have this human experience with all the emotional, physical and psychological phenomena. It is when we get caught up in our experiences and come to believe, “This is me,” or “This is it,” that we become attached to certain experiences and emotional states and then consequently we suffer. Through the cultivation of attention and other mindfulness practices we come to be more the witness of our life, — when we witness sadness or … Continue reading →

The Causes of Suffering and its Remedy

Posted on May 22, 2009 by Julie Tallard Johnson

We began this session with a Chakra Breath Meditation. This is breathing into and out of each Chakra. Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, without any gap between the in breath and the out breath. As you breathe in, you breathe in any energy lost to issues related that particular Chakra (see below); as you breathe out you release all that no longer serves you. When you breathe in you are retrieving lost energy. You are recapitulating your energy lost to negative interactions and agreements. This is cleansing and waking up the potentialities within these … Continue reading →