I am a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper's comment is free belief website, which won a 2009 Webby award for religious affairs coverage. As well as the Guardian, I have written for The Times, The Independent On Sunday and the Observer newspapers, and many magazines. Below is a selection of my writing from the past few years...
How to enjoy living in the present moment (Guardian). My contribution to the Guardian/School of Life supplement on making the most of your time.
Meditation is an emotional rollercoaster (Guardian) With its surges of rage, disappointment, doubt, yearning or regret, meditation isn't all about relaxation
You don't need the 'right' kind of zafu to be a Buddhist (Guardian) Western Buddhists need to forge a fresh embodiment of wisdom for their culture and age – through the meditative method
Reframing the New Atheism debate (Guardian) The centrality of consciousness should be acknowledged, rather than seeing the debate as purely scientific or religious...
Ed Halliwell on mindfulness (School of Life blog) Expecting meditation to 'make me better', perhaps based on the results of clinical studies, may well sabotage the practice, whose benefit comes partly from letting go of the tendency to grasp for results...
How the cure to your illness is all in your mindfulness (Times). Unedited version - read the version published in the Times (paywall).
Mindfulness: Beyond The Science. (Guardian) Scientific studies show the effects of mindfulness, but can they do justice to the transformation felt by many who practise it?
Buddhism In Education (Guardian) Meditation is justified in schools by its practical benefits. But there's more to it than that...
The Mindful Enlightenment (Guardian) How mindfulness practices can bring about a new kind of social enlightenment
Investigating the Buddhist mindset (Guardian) Does the Dalai Lama's support for a 'centre for investigating healthy minds' compromise its scientific respectability?
Suffering doesn't have to be worthless (Guardian) Does suffering improve us?If we can steer a middle way through suffering, neither wallowing in it nor ignoring it, it can help us grow
How do you get to Nirvana? Practice (Guardian) Buddhism is not a theory, but a body of practical teachings, and without practice it is just an excuse for smugness
Buddhism beats depression (Guardian) Should the health service sponsor Buddhist techniques to beat depression? Why not, if they work
Self-help can be no help (Guardian)Quick fixes often make the underlying problems worse. Letting go of the desire for self-improvement is the answer
Between the rational and the mystical (Guardian) We neither need an external, creator God, nor to close ourselves off from the spectacular majesty of existence
Dawkins strips away religion's dead wood (Guardian) Dawkins is doing religion a favour – by exposing faith and spirituality to criticism, he paves the way for their renewal
Buddhism and the Brain (Guardian) The Mind and Life conference brings together two powerful ways of understanding mind and its place in the world
A sense of self (Guardian) Personality may be an illusion, but not the kind described by materialists like Colin Blakemore
One insight, two cultures (Guardian) Religious solutions to our problems are too often ignored because of the language they are couched in
Is it always about belief? (Guardian) The Buddha emphasised that we should not trust the teachings of any faith based on – among other things – scripture, religious authorities, or logical and philosophical reasoning
Searching for enlightenment (Guardian) Is Google's 'school of personal growth' a spiritual boon or corporate fig leaf?
The magic of ordinary experience (Guardian) Buddha avoided the tragi-comic debate about God's existence to focus on far more important issues
Reasons to be cheerful (Guardian) Buddhism teaches that good cheer, rather than 'happiness', might be the key to beating winter blues
End-Of-Life Issues (Guardian) While Tibetan monks are sent to meditate in graveyards, most of us deny the reality of death. But this is a recipe for fear.
War itself makes war more likely (Guardian) We will not end conflict until we have learned first to cultivate peace in our own minds.