The Capacity to Connect to Others
Weekly Column By Sharon Salzberg for On Being Blog
Published December 21st, 2015
Only we can know our own motivations and intentions for our actions. I could give a gift to my friend out of a genuine and authentic desire to be generous, or I could do so to get a gift from my friend in exchange, or to feel validated by someone. One action, two very different intentions.
Recognizing our intentions in the moments of our actions is, at its core, a recognition of the power of our minds. When we realize that we are able to renegotiate our relationship to our motivations, we empower ourselves to feel greater freedom, happiness, and responsibility over our own lives.
Sharon Salzberg
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About On Being with Krista Tippett
On Being is a Peabody Award-winning public radio conversation and podcast, a Webby Award-winning website and online exploration, a publisher and public event convener. On Being opens up the animating questions at the center of human life: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live? On Being airs on more than 330 public radio stations across the U.S., distributed by American Public Media. The podcast reaches a global audience via SoundCloud.
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