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Tayler Wolfe February 10, 2020

Today’s body scan meditation was a little easier than yesterday. I was able to get in to the flow of it much easier. I still feel that I need to focus a little more on this type of meditation.

#Commit2Sit #RealHappinessChallenge

#RealHappiness day 10

Day 10 body scan – just like a vacation!

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Even in horrible circumstances, we find that ...

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Aug 10

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Even in horrible circumstances, we find that challenge and that prospect for meaningful change. I saw that after the Underground bombing in London in July 2005, when my initial response echoed most of those around me: sorrow for lives lost, distress at all those unheralded lives lost each day across the globe, some anxiety about getting on a subway in New York City.

Willa, my then seven-year-old goddaughter, had another perspective. Upon being told what had happened, Willa’s eyes filled with tears and she said, “Mom, we should say a prayer.” As she and her mother held hands, Willa asked to go first. Her mother was stunned to hear Willa begin with, “May the bad guys remember the love in their hearts.”

Returning belligerence for belligerence, focusing on revenge, is familiar and easy but it tires us out. If we are willing to go to a new level of thinking, we discover that we are capable of so much more than we usually envision. No matter what our past, we can begin to be different; we can step out of cycles of reactivity, abuse or despair. Risking a new level of seeing enables us to try out new behaviors, like not shouting back or reflexively seeking revenge. Instead, we might use ways of communicating that convey our strength without damaging ourselves or those around us.

Imagine if we dropped our need to be right, our easy perpetuation of what we are used to, our need to be like other people, and actually tried to practice what the Buddha taught: “Hatred will never cease by hatred, it will only cease by love.”

That would mean an enormous adventure of consciousness: a readiness to step into new terrain, redefine power, see patience as strength rather than as resignation. This is a process of relaxing the heart and untangling it from fear and corrosive resentment. It is a process of recapturing our energy that may be held by a situation in the past and stagnating. It is a process of expanding our capacity to care, and to trust that caring will not deplete us or weaken us. It is a profound, challenging, and liberating process.

[Image Description: White background with black text reading, "we are capable of more that we usually dare to imagine."]

sharonsalzberg

For episode 188 of the Metta Hour podcast, Jason ...

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