Ben Mikolaj challenges us to face contempt with compassion: “Loving kindness has no exceptions. Even those who terrify, disgust, or enrage us are beings who feel pain and long for happiness. Even those who actively oppose empathy are worthy of it.”
Sangha member Patti Fraser sees the magic and draws a powerful lesson from a chance encounter: “Seize the moment in its fullness before it, too, disappears.”
“When something disturbs me bodily, mentally, or emotionally, my first movement, a deep-rooted habit, is to look outward,” Adela Iglesias writes. “I too often forget that the main source of my suffering (and of my liberation) is within me, in my own mind.”
In the months following my serious fall and its traumatic aftermath, it was difficult for me to stay present. . . . Although I knew that thoughts of the past and future are futile, it was a challenge to let them go and be in the present moment, moment by moment.
It can be easy for me to fall into self-pity. I find myself clinging to a solid sense of self when I experience physical or emotional pain. But when I apply what I have learned in my longtime Buddhist practice, I can let go of my self-clinging and self-pity, and I can experience compassion for all suffering beings, including myself.
Cardiac coherence is a method based on conscious breathing in a diaphragmatic way. The list of scientifically proven benefits is long. After two weeks of daily practice, stress resistance and emotional balance slowly increase; intellectual capacity and decision-making increase; and overall well-being improves.
