The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.
Even on the spiritual path, we have things we’ll tend to cover up or be in denial about.
I call myself a meditation teacher rather than a spiritual teacher.
I’ve spent quite a bit of my life as a meditation teacher and writer commending the strengths of love and compassion.
In our own lives and in our communities, we need to find a way to include others rather than exclude them. We need to find a way to allow our pain and suffering, individually and collectively.
It is so powerful when we can leave behind our ordinary identities, no longer think of ourselves primarily as a conductor, or writer, or salesclerk, and go to a supportive environment to deeply immerse in meditation practice.
With the practice of meditation we can develop this ability to more fully love ourselves and to more consistently love others.
We long for permanence but everything in the known universe is transient. That’s a fact but one we fight.
I will love myself as long as I never make a mistake.
Each of us has a genuine capacity for love, forgiveness, wisdom and compassion. Meditation awakens these qualities so that we can discover for ourselves the unique happiness that is our birthright.
Rapture is the gateway to nirvana.
At 9:10 I’m going to be filled with self-hatred.
Its never too late to take a moment to look.
Compassion allows us to bear witness to suffering, whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation, to act strongly, with all the skill at our disposal.
It’s interesting that people bring different things to oppressive and difficult situations, when they’re reduced to the barest terms of survival. That’s what provides tension in a lot of films.
My ideal registration system would be an opt-out one, where every single person is registered once they turn 18. In Australia, I’m told, everyone is registered to vote and you pay a fine if you don’t vote.
To cherish others is to cherish ourselves. To cherish ourselves is to cherish others. And in that same way, we relate to the truth. If we support it, if we embrace it, if we uphold it, we will be embraced by it, we will be supported and upheld by it.
As an ability, love is always there as a potential, ready to flourish and help our lives flourish. As we go up and down in life, as we acquire or lose, as we are showered with praise or unfairly blamed, always within there is the ability of love, recognized or not, given life or not.
As we practice meditation, we get used to stillness and eventually are able to make friends with the quietness of our sensations.
Metta sees truly that our integrity is inviolate, no matter what our life situation may be. We do not need to fear anything. We are whole: our deepest happiness is intrinsic to the nature of our minds, and it is not damaged through uncertainty and change.
Seeking is endless. It never comes to a state of rest; it never ceases.