We
must reclaim the concept of awakening from an exclusively
individualistic therapeutic model and focus on how individual liberation
also requires social transformation.
—David Loy, “Awakening in the Age of Climate Change”
Wisdom
isn’t something you can “do” or “make happen”—it’s there in all of us.
By becoming more familiar with that space within ourselves and trusting
our own instincts more fully, we can learn to apply this quality of discriminating wisdom in everyday life.
—Andy Puddicombe, “10 Tips for Living More Mindfully”
The quality of the heart is that it loves without discrimination, it
just loves, it has no boundaries. The mind is continually setting
boundaries. 'This is me, this is not me, this is good, this is bad.'
The mind is constantly judging, the heart is not judging, the heart is
just opening. The heart is without boundaries, so the mind is actually
afraid of the heart. That's what the interesting thing is, the battle
that goes on in us - you're afraid of your own heart because your heart
will give away the store.
The heart says, ‘You need my car, you need my house, you need my life,
take it.’ And the mind is saying, ‘Now wait a minute. You've got your
health insurance to pay, keep cool, don't blow the whole scene.’
So the interesting question is when and under what conditions can you
meet people in such a way that you can keep your heart open without
giving up your discriminative wisdom about how to be with another
person.
- Ram Dass
From our new free 4-week online course 'The Yoga of Relationships:
Exploring Connection and Sexuality Through the Lens of the Soul" -
beginning September 24th.
Claim your spot here.
In
meditation, we train in letting go of thoughts of the past and future
as they arise, and in tuning in to full, immediate presence instead.
—Pamela Gayle White, “What Our Memories Make Us”
Nonviolent Communication... is a method for resolving conflict by expressing needs without blame or criticism, then listening and responding empathically.
—Katy Butler, “Say it Right”
Peace and kindness have their best shot at establishing themselves when we accept our own inadequacy, when limitation and error become aspects of ourselves we can embrace rather than strive to mask.
—Henry Shukman, “The Art of Being Wrong”
"It’s amazing how the nature of your relationships change when it’s coming out of love instead of trying to get love."
- Ram Dass
From our new free 4-week online course 'The Yoga of Relationships:
Exploring Connection and Sexuality Through the Lens of the Soul" -
beginning September 24th.
Claim your spot here.
We can choose to take refuge in the brilliant sanity of enlightenment, the Buddha; trust the process of the path, the Dharma; and rely on the experience of those who guide us along the path, the Sangha.
—Lama Tsony, “Facing Fear”
The
act of giving purifies intention, the quality of mind with which any
action is undertaken. For a brief moment, the giver’s self-absorption is
lifted, attachment to the gift is relinquished, and kindness towards
the recipient is developed.
—Andrew Olendzki, “The Wisdom of Giving”
How
do we develop this appreciation of things just as they are, especially
if we are sick and in pain? We must treat our pain gently, respectfully,
not resisting it but living with it.
—Darlene Cohen, “The Practice of Nonpreference”
As
progress is made on the path, the positive qualities required for
further advancement will become part of you, and you will gradually
learn how to assimilate and become these positive qualities, rather than
regarding them as something to be attained and possessed.
—Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, “Letting Go of Spiritual Experience”
“If there is one thing that a person needs from another human being,
it’s to be appreciated, to be listened to, to be heard. Just as you are,
not as I would make you."
- Ram Dass
From our new free 4-week online course 'The Yoga of Relationships:
Exploring Connection and Sexuality Through the Lens of the Soul" -
beginning September 24th.
Claim your spot here.
We
can get dragged back into the past, which can lead to depression, or we
can become anxious about the future, which can lead to fear. Conscious
breathing returns us to the here and the now, where we really belong.
—Gary Gach, “Brief Teachings”
When
we trust our creative energy, we encounter a supreme kind of
enjoyment—an amazement at the natural unfolding of life beyond our
ordinary way of looking at things.
—Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, “Free Expression”
All
the transitions in life—dream, meditation, death, and rebirth, all the
unending transitions in what we call existence and nonexistence—are each
and every one a path of enlightenment.
—Douglas Penick, “Bidia Dandaron”
"If I’m going to die, the best way to prepare is to quiet my mind and
open my heart. If I’m going to live, the best way to prepare is to quiet
my mind and open my heart.
"
- Ram Dass,
from his newly released book with co-author Mirabai Bush 'Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying'
Order your copy here.
