Despite my empty mouth, the words are in my mind.

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“The only true mirror you’ll ever need is your actions.”

People like saying “life's short” a lot. The problem is, they don't really mean it. It actually is short, very short, but they don't believe in its shortness until the very end. Had they truly meant it, our world would have been a really different place. They would know what to do with their lives.

"Most people are not comfortable making a connection between racism and specism or the ill treatment of human beings and the mistreatment of animals. We want to keep our boundaries clean and separate. But isn't that the point, to separate, isolate, and discriminate? We create hierarchies, viewing life from the top down, top being, of course, God, then a ranking of human races, and so our judgments move down 'the Great Chain of Being' until we touch rocks. This is the attitude of power, and it hinges on who is in control. Who has power over whom? How does this kind of behavior infiltrate the psyche of a culture? And what are the consequences of scala naturae?"

A place there is below, from Beelzebub As far receding as the tomb extends, Which not by sight is known, but by the sound Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed With course that winds about and slightly falls. The Guide and I into that hidden road Now entered, to return to the bright world; And without care of having any rest We mounted up, he first and I the second, Till I beheld through a round aperture Some of those beauteous things which Heaven doth bear; Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.

A painted people there below we found, Who went about with footsteps very slow, Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished. They had on mantles with the hoods low down Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut That in Cologne they for the monks are made. Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles; But inwardly all leaden and so heavy That Frederick used to put them on of straw.

just curious, why, from a cursory glance, does it seem that you never post any updates in november?

Taking a moment to look at the sky or taking a few seconds to abide with the fluid energy of life, can give us a bigger perspective----that the universe is vast, that we are a tiny dot in space, that endless, beginningless space is always available to us.

Underlying hatred, underlying any cruel act or word, underlying all dehumanizing, there is always fear---the utter groundlessness of fear. This fear has a soft spot. It hasn’t frozen yet into a solid position. However much we don’t like it, fear doesn’t have to give birth to aggression or the desire to harm ourselves or others.

It doesn’t help at all to feel guilty about where we find ourselves. When we can shed the light of compassionate attention on our actions, an interesting shift can happen---this regret of ours becomes a seed of compassion for all the other people just like us who are caught in fixed mind, closed mind, hard heart. We let this recognition connect us with others. We let it be the seed of empathy, and we go forward, not wallowing in guilt and shame about what we did.

Once we start seeing, of course we still get triggered, but there’s a very important difference; the magic of recognition, the miracle of compassionate acknowledgement. It’s the miracle of being conscious rather than unconscious. The more we do it, the more our ability to do it grows. That’s not something we have to force. It just naturally happens that when there’s less self-deception, we have an increased capacity to remain awake to the joys and sorrows of the world.

In our most ordinary days we have moments of happiness, moments of comfort and enjoyment, moments of seeing something that pleased us, something that touched us, moments of contacting the tenderness of our hearts. We can take joy in that.

Learning to stay is the basis for connecting with natural warmth’ it is the basis for loving ourselves and also for compassion. The more you stay present with yourself, the more you realize what all of us are up against.

Instead of blaming our discomfort on outer circumstances or on our own weakness, we can choose to stay present and awake to our experience, not rejecting it, not grasping it, not buying the stories that we relentlessly tell ourselves. This is the priceless advice that addresses the true cause of suffering----yours, mine, and that of all living beings.

Move closer, lean in, get curious; even for a moment experience the feelings beyond labels, beyond being good or bad. Welcome them. Invite them. Do anything that helps melt the resistance.

When I realize I’m triggered, I think of it as a neutral moment, a moment in time, a moment of truth that can go either way. What I’m advocating is that in the precious moment we start to make choices that lead to happiness and freedom rather than choices that lead to unnecessary suffering and the obscuration of our intelligence, our warmth, our capacity to remain open and present with the natural movement of life.

The sad part is that all we’re trying to do is not feel that underlying uneasiness. The sadder part is that we proceed in such a way that the uneasiness only gets worse. The message here is that the only way to ease our pain is to experience it fully. Learn to stay. Learn to stay with uneasiness, learn to stay with the tightening, learn to stay with the itch and urge.