being happy is work but it is worth it

One criticism we lamas get – especially those who are popularly respected – is that we live in a vacuum and that people always tell us what we want to hear. I try not to fall into that trap and, in fact, enjoy hearing and reading criticisms. For me, Facebook is not just a platform for me to say what I want, but it also really gives me an opportunity to see how people’s minds work.

For instance, I have seen on Facebook that, when push comes to shove, people who don’t normally appear naïve and who consider themselves objective intellectuals are actually not so at all, especially when the case turns against their own deeply held values. Then they seem to lose any sense of objectivity or impartiality. That is always interesting to discover.

We should really contemplate this carefully, because we may not consider ourselves sexist or racist when perhaps we really are. That’s because our so-called sexism, racism and their reverse are so readily manipulated by conditions of all kinds.

Whenever I see blue roses, I think of Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie. In that play, Jim calls Laura “Blue Roses,” a mispronunciation of “pleurosis,” a disease that caused Laura to miss a lot of high school. But “Blue Roses” flips Laura’s flaw into a symbol of her unusual, otherworldly qualities.

“They’re common as—weeds, but—you—well, you’re—Blue Roses!”

Lately I’ve been asking myself what actually makes us feel calm and okay on the inside. So many of us treat happiness like a prize we’ll finally “win” once life looks perfect—better job, better body, better everything. But honestly? Happiness isn’t some magical end point. It’s more like something we slowly grow into, day by day, from the inside out. And it usually starts in three places: making…

Value Families

MELT ICE