“Spiritual awakening is frequently described as a journey to the top of a mountain. In the process of discovering bodhichitta [the awakened heart], the journey goes down, not up. It’s as if the mountain pointed toward the center of the earth instead of reaching into the sky. Instead of transcending the suffering of all creatures, we move toward the turbulence and doubt. We explore the reality and unpredictability of insecurity and pain, and we try not to push it away. If it takes years, if it takes lifetimes, we let it be as it is. At our own pace, without speed or aggression, we move down and down and down. With us move millions of others, our companions in awakening from fear. At the bottom we discover water, the healing water of bodhichitta. Right down there in the thick of things, we discover the love that will not die. ”
To do Heart-Focused Breathing:
Breathe deeply but normally and imagine your breath coming in and going out through your heart area. Continue breathing with ease until you find a natural inner rhythm that feels comfortable.
Focus your attention on the area around your heart, the area in the center of your chest, placing your hand there if you like.
As you continue your heart breathing and heart focus, activate a positive feeling such as appreciation, love or care. An easy way to do this is to remember a special place you’ve been to or the love you feel for a close friend, family member or treasured pet.
Practice Heart-Focused Breathing a few minutes at a time, two or three times a day.
Institute of Heart Math
“Meditation provides a deeper appreciation of the interrelatedness of all things and the part each person plays. The simple rules of this game are honesty with yourself about where you are in your life and learning to listen to hear how it is. Meditation is a way of listening more deeply, so you hear from a deeper space, exactly how it is. Meditation will help you quiet your mind, enhance your ability to be insightful and understanding and give you a sense of inner peace.
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“The witness is your awareness of your own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Witnessing is like waking up in the morning and then looking in the mirror and noticing yourself — not judging or criticizing, just neutrally observing the quality of being awake. That process of stepping back takes you out of being submerged in your experiences and thoughts and sensory input and into self-awareness. ”
“the true source of joy and happiness is the realization of one’s existence in this very moment. the source of pleasure always comes from within, even though it is occasioned by some external event or acquisition. in any one instant of time, no such thing as a problem can exist. unhappiness arises from going beyond the reality of the now and creating a story out of the past or the future-which, because neither exists, has no reality.”
“How did the rose ever open its heart and give to this world all of its beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light against its being. Otherwise we all remain too frightened. ”
“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.”
“Love says ‘I am everything.’ Wisdom says ‘I am nothing.’ Between the two, my life flows.”
by Leah Pearlman
“Take someone who doesn’t keep score,
who is not looking to be richer, or afraid of losing,
who has not the slightest interest even
in his own personality. He is free.”
