• I signed up for the Challenge but have not received anything.
Registrants should receive a confirmation within a few minutes of signing up from Teachable. If not and no emails have been received, check the spam/junk and “promotions” folders. Still can't locate any emails from Teachable, contact support team right here.
• How long are the lessons?
Daily lessons vary in length ranging from 7-10 minutes. Practice for longer if you wish. That is always welcome.
• When does the Challenge start?
The Challenge begins Sunday, February 1, 2026. Each lesson in February becomes available daily as we move through the month. Lesson One becomes available on February 1st...Lesson Five becomes available on February 5th, and so on.
• Can I join the challenge late?
Registration for the 2026 challenge closes at 11:59 pm EST on January 31st. Unfortunately, we cannot take late registrants beyond that date. So do it now, not in a minute, NOW.
• Is the Challenge free?
The Challenge is offered on a sliding-scale basis with a suggested contribution of a dollar-a-day ($28); however, a donation is not required to participate. If you are inspired to make a larger contribution to support the Challenge, you can do so here via PayPal.
• Does the course have lifetime access?
No, there is no lifetime access to course materials, as they are owned by happify.com. Once a lesson becomes available, you have until May 31st, 2026, to access it.
• How do I access meditations?
Once you sign up for the Challenge, you will receive an email to verify your account in Teachable. Once setup, you will need to log-in to Teachable each day to access lessons. You will receive a daily email from us each day with the link to the day's lesson. If you are not receiving these emails, please contact our support team right here.
• Can I download lessons?
No, the lessons are not available to download. Video components, including the guided meditations, are only available to stream.
• What time are lessons available each day?
Daily lessons are released at midnight/0:00 UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) on the day prior. To see what midnight/0:00 UTC corresponds to in your local time zone, use this UTC converter.
• If I get busy and skip some days of the Challenge, should I stop all together, or can I continue forward?
You are either welcome to continue onward either at your own pace doing the lessons in order or pick back up on the current day’s lesson the group is currently on. You can then go back later to the lessons you missed since you will have access to the materials until May 31st, 2026.
• Do I need to purchase a copy of the book to participate in the Challenge?
No, the book Real Happiness is not required to participate in the Challenge. However, if you would like to supplement your experience, it is a great way to deepen your experience. For anyone wanting to purchase the book, you can use the code MEDITATION20 to receive a 20% discount via Hachette (US orders only). This discount also applies to Real Happiness at Work and Finding Your Way.
• Does it matter if I buy the physical book or the eBook?
All forms of the book are the same. Choose whatever format you prefer for yourself.
• Are there guidelines for comments?
Kindly limit sharing in the comments section to the scope of this Challenge and how it affects your life. Our intention is to foster a community of encouragement and support for this practice. We ask that comments adhere to the principles of right speech and refrain from harmful speech. Any comments containing advertisements or inappropriate content will not be published.
• When are my comments published?
"We can always begin again." - S. Salzberg
Our team reads all comments before they are published within 24 hours. We ask that all comments adhere to the principles of right speech and refrain from harmful speech. Any comments containing advertisements or inappropriate content will not be published.
• Why wasn’t my comment published?
If your comment doesn’t meet our guidelines, it will not be published. If you still have a question or concern, please contact our Challenge Support Team by direct email right here.
ABOUT: Sharon Salzberg is a pioneer in the field of Buddhist meditation, a world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She has played a pivotal role in bringing Buddhist insight meditation (vipassana) and mindfulness (sati) into mainstream American culture since 1974. She is cofounder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and has authored 10 books, including the New York Times bestseller Real Happiness. Acclaimed for her down-to-earth and relatable teaching style, she offers a secular, modern approach to Buddhist teachings, making them instantly accessible. Her writing can be found on Medium, On Being, the Maria Shriver blog, and Huffington Post. She is also the host of her own podcast The Metta Hour, with 100+ episodes, featuring interviews with the top leaders and voices in the meditation and mindfulness movement. Learn more at sharonsalzberg.com.
The mysterious sounds of Lake Baikal talking - Climbing ice mountain the American way
BRUTAL COLD resistance race in Russia
(Eli from Russia)
March 8, 2025: YAROSLAVL OBLAST. "ICEMAN RUSSIA" is a cold resistance competition that includes weightlifting, running, and swimming in ice water. In Russia, a cold-resistant person is called a "walrus." These people rub snow on their bodies, dive in ice holes, swim short or long distances in icy water. This is why they’re compared to animals that are well adapted to cold weather and accustomed to swimming in freezing water. Swimming in ice water is considered the mastery of cold resistance, so I decided to try it!
📌 To support Eli from Russia on Patreon: elifromrussia
TIMECODES
00:00 Welcome to Yaroslavl region
01:06 Winter swimming competitions in Russia
03:35 Why do Russians train for cold resistance?
06:50 Iceman weightlifting contest
08:35 My turn to suffer! Iceman run and swim
11:50 Heading to Siberia for more freezing challenges
Impatient? Rush to Minute 2:37 to hear Christian approach and the Devil's opposition to being good
What is the Zen way to liberation? Kindergarten
Imagine beginning the Rains Retreat (Buddhist Lent known as Vas) with the idea of being good. Mara will come right at you like an angel of light (Mara Devaputra, Cupid, Eros, Kamadeva) and undermine your efforts, won't he? That's his modus operandi, as Alan Watts explains. But Taoism, and therefore Zen Buddhism, has a solution: Don't let him know what you're doing. One must act without intention, without premeditation, without the goal or outcome in mind so as to not let him know what we're up to on our path to be good. Otherwise, he'll just come along and ruin our efforts like taking candy from an old person or trying to give veggies to a baby: They'll fight you.
Not 40 days, but for more than 40 years, Alan Watts has earned a reputation as one of the foremost Western interpreters of Eastern philosophy.
Beginning at age 16, when he wrote essay for the journal of the Buddhist Lodge in London, Watts developed an audience of millions who were enriched by the wisdom of the East through his books, recordings, radio shows, public television programs, and public lectures.
In all, Watts wrote more than 25 books and recorded hundreds of lectures, all building toward a personal philosophy that he shares in complete candor and joy with readers and listeners throughout the world.
Insight can do what the ego cannot do by doing. - Philosophy or sophistry? Does Watts go too far?
Sixties icon? He was at it since before the 1950s.
His overall body of work has presented a model of individuality and self-expression matched by few philosophers, modern or ancient.
KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles continues to air Watts on Sunday mornings (8:00 am) and during Something's Happening midnights on Thursdays overnight to Friday.
I was once angry and full of ardor in India (Sharon on left), with Dipa, Dipa Ma, and Joseph G?
Mindfulness is attention, bare attention, but it's not just attention, which we advert to at will. Mindfulness (sati) is a dispassionate looking on without expectations or resistance but rather full of allowing and acceptance. That kind of looking and listening. People all over this country misuse the word "mindfulness" everyday, never realizing that when the Buddha used it, and he used it a lot, like about 14 times in the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment, he meant something that people understood from other things he had said. There's no sense in thinking that we know if we don't, as that will only frustrate us. Wrong mindfulness is a danger. Could make a person feel anxious or unpleasant or distressed. Real allowing, like Tara Brach talks about, is the immediate antidote to those kinds of temporary states.
Just some words of uplift from Wisdom Quarterly
I should probably practice the Path, right? - Ya think? Nah, let it practice you, doing through you, naturally. - What, by some kind word to a cashier? - No, just real being there, noticing without judging or evaluating, expecting or measuring, wanting anything to be any different than it actually is. Just presence. - Ugh. Sounds dreadful. - Yeah, Daria, y'know, we're alive anyway, what if we were to do the radical act of living it? We're there anyway, going through the motions.
By developing the practice of "mindfulness" (sati, satipatthana, "balanced effort," sthira-sukha, not too tight, not too lax, bare present moment awareness that is full of acceptance, gently abandoning resistance, internally letting go, nekkhkamma), it becomes effortless and habitual to stay in the present moment.
It is always the present moment, which is really all there is, as much as we miss the mark most of the time. We drag the past or future here to waste this moment with two infinite unrealities, going over the no-longer-existent or the not-yet-and-maybe-never-to-be-existent.
Rather than abandoning ourselves, let's be present with ourselves free of resistance. In this way we can open to our lives and realize our potential for the stages of enlightenment in this very life. Western lay practice is particularly suited to it; however, our mental habits of rushing, striving, objectifying, measuring, comparing, goal settling, muscling, striving, struggling, and forcing all get in the way. We have yang, okay.
The West has very much misunderstood one thing about the Path the Buddha pointed out. It does not need stronger and stronger determination, with the intensity to allow one's blood to dry up and bones become dust. This is sure to fail. This is exactly why the wandering ascetic Siddhartha kept failing to find what he was looking for. What he needed was balanced-effort which, therefore, meant balancing yang with yin, stiffness with softness, striving with allowing, contentment (santussita) over a sense of urgency (samvega). But ask around. It's as if no one has ever heard the oldest and most popular story in the world, the Allegory of the Buddha's Life or "Every Person's Quest"). It's not only about him and what he let go, overcame, saw for what it was, and awakened as a result, it is about us, too.
Let us now practice our powerful yin. Powerful? The Earth is very yin, wet and solid, sitting, observing without getting sucked in, sometimes immovable. It is not holding on with brute force or clinging as we might conclude. It is just allowing, and its nature is such.
We are not making up the Truth, memorizing it, but finding it and allowing it to reveal itself like a sitter at a still forest pool who need only sit still all ever so gentle breaths to come and go, and marveling at all the marvelous forest creatures who present themselves at the waterside to drink.
We are softly, vigilantly noticing, so much so that we may begin to notice what has been there to be found all along. It may reveal, it may not. Let it. Allow it either.
The Buddha did not create enlightenment (bodhi) or liberation (nirvana). They have always been, for they are unmade, unformed, unfabricated.
The path-of-practice to realize the liberating Truth, that he made known again finally allowing the jhanas and their purifying affects on his heart/mind then immediately undertaking systematic insight practices (fourfold sati-patthana). Mindfulness provides stability for the first by bringing back the wandering mind again and again, having noticed it is of a nature to wander off, then bringing laserlike attention on the Four Foundations of which one is mindful. (See the Maha Satipatthana Sutta for the details on this).
Now that it, the Truth, the Dhamma exists in the world and there are peaceful places to withdraw to and practice, now that we have peace, sufficient food, imperfect but sufficient health, and just the beginnings of clarity, let us determine to investigate. The Dhamma (Dharma) is inviting us to "come and see" for ourselves.
There is nothing to believe or accept ahead of time, just the willingness to persist to the culmination of serenity (samadhi, the jhanas) and insight (vipassana). The Kalama Sutta makes it all open and a great place to begin, not falling into misunderstanding by skimming but reading it to the end.
Sharon Salzberg is an amazing living teacher able to both explain and point from experience. - Wisdom Quarterly.
The place is? Mm, somewhere else? The time is? Ugh, some other time? If we never practice and make a persistent effort rather than waiting for a "perfect plan," we will wander aimlessly upcycling and downcycling without end.
Encouragement from the Buddha
Hey, where'd you come from, li'l guy?
Maybe this will be encouraging for the philosophical types, not that we Westerners suffer any of that tendency. No, not us. One time a conniving sophist came to the Buddha with a trick question, even though the Buddha could perfectly well see his heart and his motivation/intention. He innocently asked, something to the effect of:
"O, Great Aryan Guru-jii, those who practice your Path, will they all attain the goal, or half of them, or none of them, or how is it?" You'll never guess what the Buddha replied. Go on. Guess.
(Did he by any chance say 144,000? Because that would be quite a coincidence!) No, he didn't say that.
He remained silent. His attentive attendant monastic Ananda, one of the most beloved figures in all of Buddhism, became distressed. The Brahmin repeated his question a second and third time. Those times, too, the Buddha only replied passively with noble silence. The debater, insulted that his plan to engage the Buddha in some verbal wrangling and a debate he felt sure he was going to win, got up and left.
Fortunately for us, Ananda asked the Buddha why he had remained silent. He had tremendous psychic and intuitive powers beyond the scope of our understanding (an imponderable amount) and could discern the best answer to whatever was asked of him. Why not this innocent-enough question?
The Buddha explained that if he had said either all, some, or none, each answer would give rise to inaction, inactivity, not striving, not exerting, not letting go, and never mind that the Brahmin was more interested in eel-wriggling philosophical debater than real firsthand experience and understanding.
(Hey, Ananda, why? Well, if we're all going to eventually make it, why bother? It'll happen anyway. If some of us are never going to make it no matter if we strive and strive, why bother. We're not going to make it. If, yeah, well, some of us who endeavor are yet others who endeavor are not, what's the fairness in that, Ziggy? Why bother? There is not right answer as all lead to inaction and not setting off and persisting on the Path. (Ah, I get it. That Buddha was wise.)
Hey, but, psst, on the side, just between you and me, what is the correct answer? You know, just for historical purposes in case it ever comes up in real life. Yeah, right, the Buddha explains:
Then he answered humble Ananda to remove all his perplexity, and his answer was profound directly for us.
The Buddha answered by giving a simile of a marvelous and impenetrable fortress so well built that not even a very flexible cat could squeeze through its walls and ramparts to gain entrance. But there are four guarded and well-marked gates by which to freely enter.
Then he said: Ananda, just as a ruler, owner, or guard at the gate on duty is not interested in counting how many are inside now, or how many remain outside, or how many will eventually pass him coming in -- all of that he sets aside. But the one thing he does know with certainty is that if someone is inside, that person gained entrance by one of the four gates, alluding to the teachings he made known like, say, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (AN 10.95).
Ananda was startled and in awe, at peace and rejoiced at the Buddha's words. So why do we do this to ourselves, piling up points of contention, fearfully "needing" to know everything in advance -- What will it take? How long will it take? If I fail, do I get all of my suffering back in full? -- a tangle of views and disputes, more clever questions than could possibly have ever been asked by any ancient before us. You know, they weren't as smart as us, those old seekers on their spiritual quest in millennia and aeons past?
Practice and see. It is of immediate benefit. If one is burdened by clinging, how long after letting go will I feel relief?
Immediate. Simultaneous. Just as soon as. It isn't the common, "Be good now, and be rewarded with a slice of heaven later" religious deal. It isn't, "Well, if I don't become a monastic and go all in, what's the point, Droopy Dog?"
You know what the man should have asked, and thank goodness someone else did? "What does it take to conduct this path-of-practice? Who can succeed? Who is it for that you have taught for 45 human years what you taught?" That question, remarkably, he did answer. It's for the average person or deva (light being, lit. "shining one" of which there are many kinds but presumably those closer to human plane of existence, of average intelligence, the manyfolk. He didn't attain in a deva world and come down from on high to tell people what's up and give commands and threats. He in fact said the human plane is the easiest place to attain enlightenment. Why? It is because there are worse worlds, like the animals, ghosts, and those suffering worse than we suffer. And there are much better worlds, the many planes of the various kinds of devas, where they party and celebrate, cavort and conduct entertainments so much and so pleasing, who's got time to strive or just sit there? I need a cool dress for the cotillion! A corsage, a suit, a cape to really make an entrance, and so on and so forth. But the human plane, which is not just this Earth, is like the seashore beach where the waves are tumbling and being tossed about in torments and tempests. We get swept away, sure, but we can usually swim back to the sort of safety of the beach. Inland, where the parties endlessly roar, as well as celestial wars and more troubles than one would think the long-lived devas (deus, Olympic gods, asuras, gandhabbas) would have to endure given their good but far from perfect previous karmic merit. Here we experience enough pain to remember why we need and want to practice for freedom and complete liberation; yet, here, too, we experience enough pleasures that it's kind of nice and devic sometimes. That's why it's best to practice here and not delude ourselves, imagining, "Oh, yeah, later, when I'm in the mood."
If it were not so, we would not bother to say all of this. As peace grows, the heart gains confidence (saddha) which gently impels us forward.
Which way will you turn tomorrow on the way to the whatchamacallit thingy? Yeah, that's the way you usually go, but what if that path is blocked by the remains of a bonfire or crowds in the crosswalk or heavy bumper-to-bumper traffic? Since you don't know for sure, you shouldn't leave the house. Too risky. Play it extra-safe. Stay in bed. Sleep in. Bliss (piti) can wait. It's always been waiting. 💖
Text by Teacher Seven for Wisdom Quarterly; animated video by Sharon Salzberg (sharonsalzberg.com, podcast, videos, all that jazz someone else has to manages), Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation)
(Wealth of Geeks) The fact that they are animated does not necessarily make them fit for children. Generally seen as indecent or highly suspect, some cartoons don’t live up to this reputation. But some do. Even if kids love them, do they understand them? Here are 17 of them. (Amaka Chukwuma via MSN.com)
A Buddhist nun followed in the footsteps of her brother who took the monk mode challenge.
(Tasty Husbands) Cleveland hates pervert Glenn Quagmire for cheating with his wife on Family Guy
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If he succeeds, I'll become a Buddhist nun.
I tried to spend a week eating healthily, meditating skillfully, reading wisely, and sweating profusely by running 5K [as tapas or "burning off" the bad by austerity] every day, all while ditching television completely, giving up social media scrolling, and turning my back and not touching alcohol at all.
I failed, but that didn’t stop it from changing my life.
Health trends are 10 a penny on TikTok, from the genuinely dangerous Gallon of Water a Day for 30 Days trend to the brutal 75 Hard Challenge and the ever-popular 12-3-20. And guys are more likely to be influenced into giving extreme ones a go more than women, according to a recent study.
If only Doggone could write, we'd know all about it. He took a challenge with Ananda to "muscle" his way to meditation. Then he doesn't turn in his results write up.
I clearly am one of those gullible men. I wanted to throw myself headfirst into a new challenge. I've tried and failed any number of them. (Over lockdown, I stuck to the 100-pushup challenge for a little while).
But after hitting a bit of a slump at the start of the year, I wanted something that would jolt me out of it. I was exercising pretty regularly, but spending too long trapped in YouTube rabbit holes and not reading as much as I’d like. That’s where “monk mode” came in.
Going "monk mode" was far harder than I ever thought (iStock/Indy 100).
It was great living up at the Mt. Baldy Zen Center above LA as a Zen monk before music fame.
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First Western Buddhist monk was Irish
It’s a pretty far-reaching term one sees bandied across the internet from time to time, and it can encompass any number of different elements.
There are some challenges listed, including ditching caffeine, which I was afraid to do, considering I was only doing monk mode for a week and had absolutely no intention of giving up my addiction to coffee in the long run, so it didn't make sense.
But in essence, monk mode involves dramatically cutting down screen time by placing a ban on drains like social media and TV.
And it proved to be tough – tougher than I ever imagined it would be. The exercise part was by far the easiest part.
Monks East and West are different. Travel East.
I’m a regular runner anyway, and all it took was upping the level from three 5K runs a week to every day.
It was a bit of a blessing that I went into monk mode after a relatively heavy weekend, which had involved plenty of Guinness [a type of addictive gluten alcohol the use of which is rampant in Ireland and parts of Europe] during a trip to Twickenham, so the no drinking wasn’t much of a problem either.
The challenge taught me a lot about my habit for procrastinating, though. I don’t think of myself as a social media addict, but I found my thumb unthinkingly heading for the Instagram app – out of boredom more than anything else – and I kept having to stop myself. More
"Bennis is a first-class political surgeon…This book is a must reading for anyone who cares about international affairs and the relationship between ideals and the reality of power politics."
When millions around the world marched to protest the U.S. War on Iraq and the U.S. drive towards empire, the New York Times dubbed global public opinion "the second super-power."
What empowered those protests was their alliance -- if only for a brief moment -- with governments unexpectedly willing to stand up against U.S. pressure, and with the United Nations itself, when it followed its Charter's command to stop "the scourge of war."
Author Phyllis Bennis tracks the rise of U.S. unilateralism and the doctrine of preemptive war, looking particularly at Iraq and Israel/Palestine, and examines both the potential and the challenges ahead in reclaiming the UN as part of the global peace movement.
(What Meditation Really Is) 12/12/11. Visit on whatmeditationreallyis.com.
Sharon Salzberg from the "Wisdom of Awareness" Retreat with Sogyal Rinpoche and Tsoknyi Rinpoche, June 2011 (Garrison Institute, New York). She talks about the importance of a loving attitude (metta) in our modern society.
Today is the start of this year's Real Happiness Challenge. American Buddhist meditation master Sharon Salzberg hopes all will consider joining this month-long endeavor built around the exploration of happiness.
This year (2023) is the 13th year we've offered this program, and through that time, we have witnessed the world undergo much change and difficulty. Now more than ever it feels vital to cultivate the inner resources for ease and joy in the ever-shifting landscape of our lives.
Concentration Practice: Learn core techniques of concentration practice by working with the natural breath. Salzberg’s masterful approach to the process of engaged awareness and the secret sauce for any practice: the art of beginning again.
Mindfulness of the Body: Learn the basics of mindfulness by exploring body-based meditation techniques like walking meditation, body scan meditations, and practices that incorporate daily activities and household tasks.
Mindfulness of Emotions: Go deeper into the world of mindfulness with the rich terrain of emotions and thoughts. Learn practices for working with difficult emotions and building positive emotions for greater resilience.
Lovingkindness Practice: Learn core lovingkindness practices that explore how we pay attention and who we pay attention to. Cultivate genuine self-compassion and how to balance that with compassion for others and the larger world.
The Challenge is offered on a sliding scale basis, with a $10 suggested contribution, to keep this offering as accessible as possible. Full scholarships are available for those who cannot contribute financially.
This program is based on her New York Times bestselling book, Real Happiness, now in its second edition.
While the book is not required to participate in The Challenge, it is a lovely way to deepen the experience.
Real Happiness (second edition)
For anyone wanting to purchase the new edition, use the code HAPPINESS23 to receive 20% off on Real Happiness and Real Happiness at Work via Workman (US orders only).'
Sharon Salzberg hopes all will join in this robust offering, which is only available once a year during the month of February.
Wishing everyone well,
Sharon Salzberg (edited by Wisdom Quarterly)
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