The ability to apologize sincerely and express regret for the unskillful things we say or do is an art. A true apology can relieve a great deal of suffering in the other person.
Reconciliation can also be with your own self. If you don’t reconcile with yourself, happiness with another person is impossible.
When we cannot communicate, we suffer, and we spill our suffering on to other people. We can find ways to open the doors of communication again.
The truth is that everything contains everything else. We cannot just be, we can only inter-be.
If someone were to ask, “What’s the purpose of walking meditation? What’s the point? Why do you practice it?” There are several answers we can give. But for me the best answer is, “Because I like it.
Right View cannot be described. We can only point in the correct direction. Right View cannot even be transmitted by a teacher. A teacher can help us identify the seed of Right View that is already in our garden, and help us have the confidence to practice, to entrust that seed to the soil of our daily life.
A person who looks at the table and can see the universe is a person who can see the way.
The fruit of mindfulness practice is the realization that peace and joy are available within us and around us, right here and right now.
Calming, Smiling. Present moment, Wonderful moment.
Peace and calm are contagious.
Instead, we must learn how to make friends with our hardships and challenges. They are there to help us; they are natural opportunities for deeper understanding and transformation, bringing us more joy and peace as we learn to work with them.
To be in the here and the now – solid and fully alive – is a very positive contribution to our collective situation.
If you can’t accept your body and your mind, you can’t be a home for yourself. Many young people don’t accept who they are, and yet they want to be a home for someone else. But how can they be if they’re not yet a home for themselves?
When we know how to be at peace, we find that art is a wonderful way to share our peacefulness.
You should have a chance to observe him when he sleeps. Look deeply, and see the tenderness that is revealed, the suffering, the hope, the despair that can be expressed during sleep. Sit there for fifteen minutes or half an hour, and just look. Understanding and compassion will arise in you, and you will know how to be there for your partner.
Shouting at someone is not the way to help. If you’ve already shouted, then realize that this is one of your unskillful behaviors. Go back to your in-breath and out-breath and say, I have to repair this. Then go to the other person and apologize, and tell yourself that next time you’ll try your best to remember beforehand and act differently.
When you touch deep understanding and love, you are healed.
If we can heal our wounded child, we will not only liberate ourselves, but we will also help liberate whoever has hurt or abused us. The abuser may also have been the victimg of abuse.
The third element of love is mudita, joy. True love always brings joy to ourselves and to the one we love. If our love does not bring joy to both of us, it is not true love.
Find space in your day when you can practice mindful breathing and letting go of tensions.