Via The Raft: Loving Ourselves and Others in the New Year

 

Inspiration from the International Plum Village Community
January 2025

"Looking deeply at any one thing, we see the whole cosmos. The one is made of the many. To take care of ourselves, we take care of those around us."

Thich Nhat Hanh, Cultivating the Mind of Love

Living Joyfully This year marks the third anniversary since Thich Nhat Hanh’s transition. As we are all his continuation, we can enjoy this 5-minute clip of his teaching on how to live our days joyfully: “A good practitioner is capable of generating joy and happiness in his daily life, in her daily life, to nourish himself and to heal himself.” Watch

The Chant of Metta 慈经 (1999) by Imee Ooi 黄慧音

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Lovingkindness

 

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RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Lovingkindness Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis on which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on lovingkindness, for when you develop meditation on lovingkindness, all ill will will be abandoned. (MN 62)  The function of lovingkindness is preferring welfare. (Vm 9.93)

Reflection Kindness is a habit, like everything else in our emotional range. It can be learned and reinforced and cultivated, or it can be neglected, abandoned, and suppressed. Why not practice kindness by fostering the welfare of all beings, including yourself? Like any habit, it takes time and patience to interrupt the reflex to blame and hate and to install the new patterns of thought and behavior. But it can be done. So let’s do it! Daily Practice Lovingkindness can be invoked at any time. Look for opportunities to think kindly of other people, to wish them well, and to soften your heart. Do this especially as an antidote if you feel yourself going in the other direction and feeling ill will toward someone. Lovingkindness and ill will cannot coexist in a single mind moment, so you always have a choice to feel friendly or feel hostile in any situation. May you choose wisely. Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech One week from today: Cultivating Compassion Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via Daily Dharma: Begin Again

 

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Begin Again Beginning again and again is the actual practice. Sharon Salzberg, “How to Forgive: A Meditation” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Seeing the Emptiness of Self By Laura Bridgman When we shift our attention from thoughts to feelings and let identity arise into consciousness, the sense of self diminishes. Read more » Dhamma Wheel 365 Days of Practice to Your Inbox Commit to a year of contemplative study with Tricycle’s daily email course on the noble eightfold path.

Via Choose Democracy

Friends,

That clenching feeling in your stomach? That restlessness? That mind jumping around checking the news anxiously? That's a normal response to an abnormal situation.

We strongly suggest some deep breathing, sharing with friends how you truly are, and digging into your spiritual and physical practices. We definitely recommend these 7 practices at Finding Steady Ground:

1. I will make a conscious decision about when and where I’ll get news — and what I’ll do afterwards.
2. I will make human-to-human connection with another person and make sure we stay in motion.
3. I will pray, meditate, or reflect on those I know who are being impacted by oppressive policies, and extend that love to all who may be suffering.
4. I will read, listen to, or share a story about how others have resisted injustice.
5. I will be aware of myself as one who creates.
6. I will take a conscious break from social media.
7. I will commit to sharing with others what’s helping me.

(Read more at Finding Steady Ground.)

Via Informed Comment daily updates (01/21/2025)

 

Death shaded the Life of this Holocaust historian. The cancer Memoir he began in Hospital was a final ‘Act of Love’

By Tess Scholfield-Peters, University of Technology Sydney (The Conversation) – Mark Raphael Baker began writing his final book, A Season of Death, from his hospital bed, in the wake of his terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis. His second wife, Michelle, would later observe: “More than a comfort or distraction, in him it was a need.” The […]

Via FB

 

Today in our little garden

 

Via White Crane Institute

 

The Swedish Parliament 2009 - The Swedish Parliament was presented with legislation that would allow Gay couples to marry in civil ceremonies or in the Lutheran Church, which until 2000 was the official church of Sweden. "The main proposal in the motion is that ... a person's gender will no longer have any bearing on whether they can marry. The marriage law and other laws concerning spouses will be rendered gender neutral according to the proposal," a statement from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's conservative Moderates said.   The proposal had wide backing in parliament. While heterosexuals in Sweden could previously choose to marry in either a civil ceremony or a church ceremony, homosexuals were only allowed to register their "partnerships" in a civil ceremony. Civil unions granting Gays and Lesbians the same legal status as married couples were allowed in Sweden since 1995. On October 22, 2009, the governing board of the Church of Sweden, voted 176–62 in favor of allowing its priests to wed same-sex couples in new gender-neutral church ceremonies, including the use of the term marriage. Same-sex marriages have been performed by the church since November 1, 2009   With the adoption of the new legislation, Sweden,  became the first country in the world to allow Gay people to marry within a major Church. Under the proposal, Lutheran pastors are permitted to opt-out of performing Gay marriages if they have personal objections.

|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8| Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute "With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989! www.whitecraneinstitute.org |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|