"Don't Overthink It!", with John Mifsud

Note: Folks, we still require proof of vaccination and strongly encourage masks to ensure community safety. There will not be a streaming option.

Our minds are always thinking. Even asleep, we process past experiences and imagine the future. Brains churn incessantly. Billions of synapses fire between our ears 24x7. Thinking is a non-stop operation.

Today, a constant barrage of challenging news from screens and satellite transmissions overload us with data. Often, as ideas arise, we think we generated them. On some level, of course, we are. Every day, we say, “I think so” or “Let me think about that” or “I think you’re wrong” or “I’m losing my mind” or “This is what I think” or “I just don’t know what to think.”

Don’t Overthink It! will be a half-day retreat focused on how thoughts originate, where they come from, and how to skillfully work with them. If you are challenged by unrelenting mental formations, join us. In community, we will explore the available freedom that comes from specific meditation techniques that encourage calm abiding. We will investigate how thoughts are not always volitional. They arise in our minds so we think we created them but the Buddha taught us they are as fleeting as a bird flying by or a cloud in the sky; always changing, here for the moment, and gone forever. Once a thought fades, another immediately replaces it. It’s our human nature.

Can we find peace in this perpetual cycle of thinking? Of course, we can. No doubt about it.

The fee is on a sliding scale of $15 to $75, according to ability. Please consider that registration includes a donation for the teacher. Please register as generously as you can.

Scholarships are available upon request.  No one will be turned away for lack of funds.  Use our sliding scale registration for folks who cannot pay the suggested range. Otherwise, please contact the registrar, Jay, at [email protected] to arrange for full financial assistance. 

If you wish to pay at the door or via check to the registrar, those options are available to you on the payment information page after you click the green "Register" button, enter the desired money amount and click the green "Checkout" button.  

John Mifsud is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders Training Program at Spirit Rock. Larry Yang is his mentor teacher. An Arab-American, John is a leader of the East Bay Meditation Center’s (EBMC’s) Deep Refuge Group for Alphabet Brothers of Color. He also coordinated the Seattle Multicultural Sangha and Seattle Dharma Buddies for GBT men. His current practicum includes teaching at the San Francisco Gay Buddhist Sangha, the San Francisco Gay Buddhist Fellowship, San Francisco Insight, Modesto Insight, the LGBT Sangha at the LGBT Community Center in San Francisco and EBMC.

• Please try to arrive between 9:15 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. to register and settle in. 
• Bring a covered mug or water bottle, a lunch, and your personal cushion if you have one.
• Chairs and cushions will be available at the retreat, as well as tea and hot water. 
• In the spirit of doing no harm, we ask that you refrain from using scented products that may affect others.  The Dharma Center is wheelchair accessible.
• SBMG hosts teachers from all Buddhist traditions at weekly meetings and monthly daylong retreats.  All have been welcome since 1991.  SBMG is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
• Please contact registrar if you have any questions.

Host or Publisher Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group