I need to start over. I can’t just stay stuck in this place.” This is a wonderful skill to bring to your life.
Respecting differences while gaining insight into our essential connected-ness, we can free ourselves from the impulse to rigidly categorize the world in terms of narrow boundaries and labels.
No connection is always easy or free of strife, no matter how many minutes a day we meditate. It’s how we relate to conflict, as well as to our differing needs and expectations, that makes our relationships sustainable.
When we set an intention to explore our emotional hot spots, we create a pathway to real love.
Genuine awe connects us with the world in a new way.
The good news is that opportunities for love enter our lives unpredictably, whether or not we’ve perfected self-compassion or befriended our inner critic.
Equanimity can be hard to talk about.
Consider how the sky is unharmed by the clouds that pass through it, whether they are light and fluffy-looking or dark and formidable. A mountain is not moved by the winds blowing over it, whether gentle or fierce. The ocean is not destroyed by the waves moving on its surface, whether high or low. In just that way, no matter what we experience, some aspect of ourselves remains unharmed. This is the innate happiness of awareness.
By accepting and learning to embrace the inevitable sorrows of life, we realize that we can experience a more enduring sense of happiness.
Often in close relationships, the subject being discussed is not the subject at all.
Trying to impose our personal agenda on someone else’s experience is the shadow side of love, while real love recognizes that life unfolds at its own pace.
Causing harm is never just a one-way street.
Our can-do culture has made many of us believe that we should always be self-sufficient. Somewhere along the way, we also got the message that asking for help is a sign of weakness. We often forget that we’re interdependent creatures whose very existence depends on the kindness of others, including – with a bow to Tennessee Williams – strangers.
When we feel conflicted about a particular decision or action, our bodies often hold the answer – if we take the time to stop and tune in.
As soon as we ask whether or not a story is true in the present moment, we empower ourselves to re-frame it.
A key barometer to help us weigh the rightness of our actions is self-respect.
May my practice be dedicated to your well-being.
How many pleasures escape our notice because we think we need big, dramatic sensations to feel alive? Mindfulness can allow us to experience fully the moment in front of us – what Thoreau calls ‘the bloom of the present ’ – and to wake up from neutral so we don’t miss the small, rich moments that add up to a dimensional life.
The causes of familial discord and distance are countless, but the results are often the same: secrecy, blame, sadness, hurt, confusion, and feelings of loss and grief.
The heart is a generous muscle.