Careful awareness

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To be born into any world is to be born into a place where these dangers are normal. They lie in wait right here in the body that at birth we laid claim to, and the world around us is full of triggers that can bring these dangers out into the open at any time.

It’s an often-overlooked feature of the Buddha’s teachings that he identified the basis for all our good and skillful qualities as heedfulness — not innate goodness or compassion: heedfulness. To recognize that there are dangers both within and without, that your actions can make the difference between suffering from those dangers and not, and that you’d better get your act together now: this is the heedfulness that makes us generous, wise, and kind.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu, What Is True Safety?

How seductive, the thought of tomorrow

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So we have to be patient with ourselves. Over and over again we think we need to be somewhere else, and we must find the truth right here, right now; we must find our joy here, now.

How seductive it is, the thought of tomorrow. We must find our understanding here.

We must find it here; it is always here; this is where the grass is green.

John Tarrant, Calling on the name of Avalokiteshvara

Teach us how to breathe

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I am occasionally reminded of a beautiful line in the Gospel according to St. Luke, 11:1, where Jesus prays to God asking to be taught how to pray. Jesus asks not what to pray for; he does not pray for this or that. He asks how to pray.

I think we need similar instruction about breathing: Dear God: teach us how to breathe.

Teach us how to breathe beautifully. Teach us how to breathe truly.

Teach us how to breathe deeply. Teach us how to breathe in spirit.

Teach us to take in a breath that is connected to a healing spirit.

In many languages, the words for breath and spirit are connected. I am reminded of this when I look at our word: Respiration. In the middle of that word, respiration, the very process of breathing, is spirit.

The Bible begins with the wind/breath/spirit hovering above the waters. We do not breathe air. We breathe in spirit.

Omid Safi, Learning How to Breathe Again

Not being afraid

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As Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche summarizes: “Ultimately, that is the definition of bravery: not being afraid of yourself.” Believing the seemingly non-stop, discursive commentary that courses through our heads simply interferes with letting ourselves be the brave beings we actually are. Such hyper-vigilance stems from fear, of course: “If I don’t check myself constantly, won’t I make a mistake?”

Letting go of incessantly measuring and comparing ourselves to others leads to spontaneous acts of courage and compassion. It’s like learning a dance step well enough that we no longer need to keep looking down at our feet.

Gaylon Ferguson, Natural Bravery