Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - March 13, 2019 💌

What I have come to understand is that my path involves my heart. It can't come after the fact. It has to be the leading edge of my method. And in a devotional path, we work with forms in order to transform our own identities. And, in the process, we break the habits we've held as our realities and our own self-definitions. And the new realities, the new concepts we take on, because they were taken on intentionally, don't have the same hold over us that the old ones had. It's using a skillful means to get rid of one thing when later we will get rid of that aid as well.

- Ram Dass -

Via Gay Buddhist Fellowship: Diversity Inclusion - Centers for Spiritual Living

Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon STUNS With Original Audition Song "Almost Heaven" — American Idol 2019 on ABC

Via Daily Dharma: Be Aware of the Ebb and Flow

The Now does not come and go, but includes everything all at once. When we’re aware of being in the Now, present moments come and go, like ripples and waves in the ocean of awake awareness.

—Loch Kelly, “When Am I?”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - March 10, 2019 💌

When you say, "I am," then add anything after it, you are already trying to stand somewhere. There's nowhere to stand in this whole dance. You can't stand somewhere when you say, "I am good." There is stuff in you that isn't so good. You say, "I am young," yet get old. "I am alive," you will be dead. Every definition of yourself is a prison you put yourself in, seemingly to protect yourself. But it ends up creating anxiety and fear. Most of the behavior that our society performs is motivated by fear. And it is the fear of what is. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: The Key to Happiness

Generosity takes many forms—we may give our time, our energy, our material possessions, our love. All are expressions of caring, of compassion, of connection, and of renunciation—the ability to let go.The beauty of generosity is that it not only brings us happiness in the moment—we feel good when we give—but it is also the cause for happiness to arise in the future.

—Joseph Goldstein, “The Evolution of Happiness”

Via Daily Dharma: Tune In to Perfection

When we numb out from our suffering, we numb out from our experience of joy. That’s why we train our mind in meditation: to help ourselves and others see that we are alive in each moment. We are complete and perfect, just as we are, in the midst of our suffering.

—Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, “Turn Into the Skid”

Cameron Hawthorn: Dancing in the Living Room

https://www.advocate.com/music/2019/3/08/country-singer-cameron-hawthorn-comes-out-his-new-video

Via Daily Dharma: Our Ephemeral Existence

Normally we operate under the deluded assumption that everything has some sort of true, substantial reality. But when we look more carefully, we find that the phenomenal world is like a rainbow—vivid and colorful, but without any tangible existence.

Normalmente, operamos sob a suposição ilusória de que tudo tem algum tipo de realidade verdadeira e substancial. Mas quando olhamos com mais cuidado, descobrimos que o mundo fenomenal é como um arco-íris - vívido e colorido, mas sem existência tangível.

—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, “Teachings on the Nature of Mind and Practice”

Via Daily Dharma: Take This Moment to Relax

Every single moment provides an opportunity to relax the tendency to create tension in the body and unconscious thought patterns in the mind.

—Will Johnson, “Full Body, Empty Mind”

Via Daily Dharma: Planting Seeds of Change

We may be powerless to change the past, but we do have the power to shape the present and the future by what we do, moment to moment, right now.

—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “What We’ve Been Practicing For”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - March 6, 2019 💌

It's all purification from here on out. A conscious being recognizes that he or she has taken birth and the purpose of their incarnation is to relieve suffering. 

-  Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Strong Enough to Forgive

The process of forgiveness demands courage and a continual remembering of where our deepest happiness lies.

—Sharon Salzberg, “Three Ways to Practice Forgiveness”

Via Daily Dharma: The Gift of an Open Mind

Buddhism’s true gift is that it teaches us to learn and experience the true characteristics and the nature of our mind and the world, as they are.

—Tulku Thondup, “Don’t Get Stuck in Neutral”

Via Daily Dharma: An Incomparable Encounter

Beyond the internal mess is clear space, a clear mind. And there’s no better place—indeed, no other place—to meet your true self.

—Joan Duncan Oliver, “The Sound of Silence”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - March 3, 2019 💌

The essence of my relationship with Maharajji is to love him, to open myself to his presence, to surrender to him. That's my bhakti practice, a practice of Guru Kripa. But those qualities of love and openness and surrender are the essence of every bhakti practice. We find some being that draws our heart: it could be Maharajji or Anandamayi Ma, Christ or Krishna, Allah or G-d. You pick the name.
Then we invite that being in. We install that being in our hearts, and we offer ourselves to it: We sing to it, we chant to it, we pray to it, we bring it flowers. We love and we love, and we open and we open. And then we watch, as slowly, slowly, but surely, surely, we love our way into becoming it.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: The Unshakeable Mind

For a well-trained mind, when sudden distractions arise, they do not interrupt your practice, but reinforce it.

—Judy Lief, “Train Your Mind: If You Can Practice Even When Distracted, You Are Well Trained”

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