Paying Attention Is The Most Basic And

The Intimacy That Arises In Listening And Speaking Truth Is Only Possible If We Can Open To The Vulnerability Of Our Own Hearts. Breathing In, Contacting The Life That Is Right Here, Is Our First Step. Once We Have Held Ourselves With Kindness, We Can Touch Others In A Vital And Healing Way.

My Prayer Became 'may I Find Peace... May I Love This Life No Matter What.' I Was Seeking An Inner Refuge, An Experience Of Presence And Wholeness That Could Carry Me Through Whatever Losses Might Come.

Where Desire Ends Up Causing Suffering Is When It Fixates.

If Attachment Then Carries Forward In A Way That's Not Healthy, We Need To Let It Be There Without Making It Wrong And Bring As Compassionate And Honest Attention To It As Possible. Honor That This Is Part Of Being Human, But It's Important To Know When It's Getting In The Way.

I Speak A Lot About What I Call "the Trance Of Unworthiness" Which Is Really Epidemic In Our Culture, This Sense Of "i'm Not Enough," Or "something's Wrong With Me." Most Of Us Have Some Level Of It Because Our Culture Has All These Standards (handed Down Through Our Families) Of What It Means To Be Okay.