Energy is our most precious resource, for it is the means by which we transform our creative potential into meaningful action.
Our bodies and minds are channels for this energy; they determine the nature of expression.
When we take full advantage of all the possibilities life has to offer, our minds, our hearts, and our energy work together harmoniously, opening us to the full richness of life, the deep enjoyment of experience.
Skillful Means
When we look at the ordinary mind, what stands out is its complete unreliability.
One day we feel one way, the next another; this month we are completely convinced, but next month we have grave doubts.
We reach the heights of joy, then we fall to the depths of misery; we imagine wonderful accomplishments, then plunge into self-doubt; we awaken to the beauty of life, then we go to sleep again.
In the face of such changeability, there can be no real security, no guarantees as to where our mind will go next—nothing is trustworthy.
Mind Over Matter
If you feel that love is missing from your life, you can create the positive warmth of love within your heart.
Let yourself feel this inner glow; expand it, letting it touch all your experience with a gentle happiness.
The more you do this, the more love you discover within and the more you have to offer others.
Hidden Mind of Freedom
Humility is an experience of the commonality of all human beings.
As we experience this commonality, our attitude toward life becomes light and open.
We discover that participating with others in a mutual sharing of knowledge and experience generates the wisdom to fulfill all needs, and to live in harmony with all beings.
Skillful Means
Taking care of ourselves is not just another selfish act with a spiritual label.
It is possible to give ourselves compassion without being motivated by self love, because grasping for satisfaction is very different from learning to care for ourselves.
Without compassion, thoughts and actions are based on desire for egotistical or selfish gratification.
But genuine compassion, the antidote to ego, arises from a humble and fearless attitude of openness and generosity.
Gesture of Balance
If we do not care enough to communicate well, all we can truly communicate is our lack of caring.
Skillful Means
In the rhythms of time, human beings are born and manifest, each one differently.
Problems arise and become more complex; life fills with obstacles that we step around with caution and fear.
We accumulate all kinds of baggage that we carry with us as deeply ingrained patterns.
Unexamined and nurtured through repetition, these patterns imprison our lives and drain them of accomplishment and joy.
Revelations of Mind
Saying “true” is for the sake of convenience.
Dimensions of Mind
All of us want the best out of life.
We want to be happy and healthy, to truly enjoy and appreciate our work.
Yet, while we strive for these things, we often end up dissatisfied. We may have a good home, family, friends: in short, a “good“ life.
But if we do not appreciate our work, then almost half of our lives—a good portion each waking day—is spent doing something we do not truly care about, that we would rather not be doing.
We may spend so much of our lives feeling frustrated and unfulfilled that we never awaken to the real joy of living.
We may begin to postpone our chances for real satisfaction to sometime in the future.
Perhaps when we reach our goals, or even after death, our reward will come.
But death will claim us, life will end—will we have experienced more than a moment of true appreciation?
Will there be a feeling of satisfied contentment for the life which has passed?
Skillful Means
When we have no clear system of moral values to guide us and no shared sense of a spiritual path to give order to our lives, it is nearly impossible to maintain balance amidst the turmoils of our modern ways of life.
If we do not retreat into passivity, we may find ourselves lurching from one view to another and from one circumstance to another in search of fulfillment.
But with no real guidance, our search for happiness rarely reaches a point of rest and contentment.
When we recognize these patterns at work within and around us, it can seem that a shadow has fallen across human destiny, obscuring the light of knowledge and imprinting its darkness on our hearts and minds.
Mind over Matter