Meditation is more
than a practice; it is a way of being in the world. It is a path.
Meditation gives you
the courage to be who you are.
The act of sitting
down with yourself with the willingness to simply be with yourself as you are.
As it chips away at
your concepts, stories, and judgments, meditation opens your heart.
Place your mind on
what you are doing rather than what you think about what you are doing.
We can relax with
the entire mental field by simply allowing what is there to be there.
Meditation is a
precious opportunity to untether yourself from the self-improvement treadmill that many of us ride so hard. Your
practice is a time to stop trying to be a better anything and instead release
all agendas and relax with yourself just as you are.
Rather than becoming
more peaceful, meditation makes you more authentic.
If you want to
become enlightened, you have to start with your actual life, just a it is right
now, and begin by getting your personal situation in hand.
Your experience is
the path; there is no other path.
The ability to make
space for what you think and feel has enormous implications.
Right here is where
a lot of confusion about meditation arises. It is not about avoiding your life;
it is about living it fully. It is not
about becoming implacable; it is about becoming genuine.
I began to
experience painful moments in a radically different way. Instead of feeling frustrated or overwhelmed,
I saw pain as nature's reminder that there is something important for me to
learn.
When you're too busy
to honor your highest priorities -- which are understanding the meaning of your
life, discovering your wisdom, and offering your heart -- that is a sign that
you've let something slip due to laziness.
The negative stories
we tell ourselves are basically made up in the first place and we should make
up positive ones to replace them.
Compassion is the
ability to hold pain and love in your heart simultaneously.
Thinking that
relationships should be comfortable is what makes them uncomfortable.
There is nothing
less safe than love. Love means opening
again and again to your beloved, yourself, and your world, and seeing what
happens next. The moment you try to make
it safe, it ceases to be love.
The practice of
meditation is the practice of gentleness.
But you don't need to sit on your cushion to do it. The more gentleness
you can extend toward yourself, interestingly, the more fierce and committed
you will become. Your difficult emotions
are much more likely to respond to your friendship rather than your fear.
