Tara Brach - Cultivating a Courageous Heart - Part 2

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

In the face of violence, hatred and loss, how do we handle the reactivity we feel? Our own anger, hatred and fear? These two talks offer guidance and practice in letting our own vulnerability be a portal to responding—to ourselves, each other and our world-- with courageous, wise hearts.

Greetings. We offer these podcasts freely, and your support really makes a difference. To make a donation, please visit tarabrock.com. Namaste. Welcome, friends. And welcome back. This is part two of our two-part series on cultivating a courageous heart. Maybe I'll begin with one of my favorite little cartoons where you see these two women behind a locked door and they're peeping through the window at a monster, this huge gross monster on the doorstep. One saying together, calm down, Edna. Yes, it is a giant hideous insect, but maybe it's a giant hideous insect in need of help. I said perhaps a little more eloquently we've got RELCA who writes,

perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is in its deepest essence something helpless that wants our love. I love that quote. It really always reminds me that whatever I'm running away from within myself, the fears in particular, are really a calling to deepen attention. So in these two talks, courage is not a lack of fear. It's how we respond in the face of fear. And so many have shared with me in these last many months how much fear they're experiencing right here in the United States

for what's unfolding right this fall with our elections, but more broadly, in our world. and fear when it's unprocessed turns to aggression. Fear when it's not faced actually has us create more separation. We can go the different direction. As RELCA in his writing suggests, we can invite forward instead a really courageous kind of love. In this talk, really we're focusing on how we can develop that

courageous love, what we might call fierce compassion. And one of the images we return to in this talk that I have found so valuable my life is that of having a strong back and a soft front. And this is from Roshi Joan Halifax, which means this fierce compassion, it's really a mainstream in our awakening courage. This fierce compassion. is got a strong back in the sense that we're absolutely dedicated to defending what's vulnerable, protecting what's vulnerable, standing up for truth, seeing truth, speaking truth, strong back. And we have a soft front, which means we keep our hearts open and caring. Roshi Joan Halifax puts it this way. She says, all too often our so-called

strength comes from fear, not love. Instead of having a strong back, many of us have a defended front shielding a weak spine. In other words, we walk around brittle and defensive trying to conceal our lack of confidence. If we strengthen our backs, metaphorically speaking, and develop a spine that's flexible but sturdy, then we can risk having a front that's soft and open, representing choiceless compassion. The place in your body where these two meet, strong back and soft front, is the brave, tender ground in which to root our caring deeply. So we continue with this exploration of cultivating courage, cultivating compassion. And I want to thank you for being with us. And I hope you find this serves your path. A few days ago, I was

reading the news and then I went out for a hike by the river and stopped and just kind of meditated in this overlook and I could see below me the trail along the river and see people, little people and even smaller dogs and there were geese flying overhead and yeah I could see the curve of the river from where I was standing, the rocks. And it helped give my heart some more space, some more perspective. And I was reminded of the overview effect, which many of you I know have heard of with astronauts viewing Earth from space. And as one described it, and you might just for a moment, and if it helps close your eyes,

just imagine what it would be like to look through the window of a spaceship and see that vast, space of blackness out there and then seeing firsthand the reality of the earth and space. And as one astronaut described it, he said, it's immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life hanging in the void, shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide people, become less important and the need to create a planetary society with a united will to protect this pale blue dot becomes both obvious and imperative. So these are the words of Michael Collins. And he adds this. He says, the thing that really surprised me was that the earth projected an air

of fragility. And why I don't know, I don't know to this day. I had a feeling it's tiny, it's shiny, It's beautiful. It's home and it's fragile. I know for me there's something about when I really take that in. I can feel a real tenderness in my heart. It really helps to step away from the intensity and remember the far reaches of time, of space, this mystery and beauty of this natural world and really the big picture beyond are changing governments and ideologies and divisions and just come back to this preciousness of what's here. We know what most matters, this cherishing of life. So with this as our kind of background, we'll re-enter the question that I shared with

you last week that so many have asked me. And it's really how do we deal with the hatred and the anger that's tearing apart our societies? And really, how do we deal with our own judgment and anger that comes in reaction? And it comes in reaction to our society and it might come in reaction in our personal relationships when we encounter what we feel as ignorance or we encounter harmful behaviors or thoughts. These weeks, and I'm just feeling this week right now so poignant honoring Martin Luther King and at the same time witnessing this continuation really of the Civil War in the United States with white supremacist attacking in a violent coup the Capitol and with violence it's actually

sanctioned by a small but growing group around the country. So how do we hold this? How do we relate to this? How do we respond to this? And again, I want to frame even more broadly, how do we respond to those in our personal life also who we experience us harmful in words and actions? So for starters, naturally, if someone threatens our well-being or the well-being of others, we need to do whatever is necessary to protect ourselves and others from harm and when there's violation to hold perpetrators accountable. In our personal life it might take the shape of creating whatever boundaries are necessary. And I name this because often when we talk about compassion, the question is, yeah,

but if somebody's harmful, shouldn't I be creating boundaries? And yeah, the first thing is do what we need to do to be safe. But if that's all we do, you know, if all we do individually or as a society is to act protectively or aggressively, there's no relational repair. There's no awakening. Our hearts will continue to be armored. I know when I think of it societally, you know, we may be able to drive some of the expressions of current violence underground But the Civil War will keep playing out until we address really the core fear and grasping

that fuels our caste system. There's no repair unless we address that, unless we address the fears and grasping that keep patriarchy and white supremacy and toxic other-in going. So let's explore this together, how we each can. be part of a movement towards healing and awakening in our personal relationships and we have to do it there. It's like we cannot heal our society if we don't face what goes on and the way we distance and sustain distance with others close in. How do we do that? And there's a few main themes I want to name from last week to carry forward and hopefully deepen. And the first is

that when we react with anger to others who we feel are causing harm, that is an entirely natural and intelligent response. It's necessary. Anger is necessary. It energizes us to protect. And I've often quoted Ruth King in saying that anger is initiatory. It's necessary, but it's not transformative. Martin Luther King dedicated his whole life to a path of transformation and the core teaching that I shared last week and I want to say again and you can find this in so many spiritual and religious teachings, hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. So our path is one of cultivating that love, cultivating that compassion so that we can act and live from a wise heart. But it's important to know that that doesn't mean bypassing the anger that comes up. In fact, the starting place on this path of compassion is honestly bringing our attention to what's right here and holding that with compassion. We start with what's right now coming up in us.

That's the only way we end up cultivating an honest, real and full compassion that we can extend to others. So compassion is a natural capacity. We all have the wiring for it. But it takes training for us to awaken it fully. And that training, to me, is more important than anything else we can do to help our planet. Okay, let's pause here. I'd like to invite you into a brief reflection, if you will.

And for many people, it helps to close your eyes, have your gaze downcast, take a few breaths, and bring to mind someone who's close in relatively to you. someone you care about who's having a hard time, someone who's suffering in some way. And notice the particulars, what you're aware of about their suffering. And as you notice, just sense how your heart responds. When you bring this person to mind, do you feel compassion? And if so, what's it like? There are some descriptions of compassion as the heart quivering in the face of compassion

suffering as a filled sense of tenderness in the heart, as in a feeling of care and a wanting to relieve the other suffering. Just notice what do you feel? And if you don't feel compassion, the way we're exploring it together, just sense what right now is between me and really feeling a full bloom of compassion. what's stopping me? And you might scan your life and sense, how often do I feel embodied compassion, full compassion? And please, if you feel any judgment as you do this reflection, to hold that with kindness. This is really just to look and see what's true. If you'd like to open your eyes,

please do. So when I am working with live groups, and I ask people to share what they experience with this kind of reflection, you know, what is between me and really feeling full compassion. Some people will say, well, I had, I felt, you know, an abstract kind of compassion, but I didn't really feel it in my body. It was more an idea of compassion. And some people will say, well, what stopped me was, I was just distracted, I couldn't, I didn't really attend deeply to that person.

And some people say, well, what stopped me was, actually I felt some judgment of the way that person was dealing with their problems. You know, there's a lot of different ways we stop ourselves. Those are some of the prime ways. But if we're honest, and I'll speak for myself when I'm honest, often compassion is mental. It's the idea of, oh, I'm so sorry that's happening for that person. but tenderness in the body is not really engaged. And what many people feel when there is some compassion is a tone of pity

that in some way we're a part and superior to that person who's suffering. So it dilutes a sense of here we are together, feeling with. I love this quote from Pema Chodern. She says, compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between. equals. Only when we know our own darkness well, can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity. So when we let that in, what we get is that

compassion will be mental or one step removed or not even there at all because we avoid our own darkness. We avoid the vulnerability or rawness in our feel in our body and that's actually our portal to fueling our shared humanity. You know, in much of our society, vulnerability has a really bad rap. There's a cartoon I saw years ago of two sheep and they're gossiping about a third sheep and who's often a distance. And one of one of the cartoon, I saw years ago, of two sheep and is saying to the other, you know, every time he comes home from being shorn, we have to spend hours talking about how vulnerable he feels. And it's really, it's cute and we get it, that it's really very much a part of really patriarchal society not to feel vulnerable or not to show

it as if we acknowledge vulnerability in some way it means that we're weak and we're deficient. This is kind of captured in this little story. A Spanish captain's walking on his enemy ship when a soldier rushes to him and exclaims, an enemy ship is approaching us. And the captain replies calmly, go get my red shirt. The soldier gets the shirt for the captain. The enemy ship comes in and heavy rounds of fire are exchanged. Finally, the Spaniards went. The soldier asked, Congrats, sir, but why the red shirt? And the captain replies, if I got injured, my blood shouldn't be seen as I didn't want my men to lose hope. Just then another soldier runs up and says, sir, we just spotted another 20 enemy ships. The captain calmly replies, go bring my yellow pants. So, okay, so it's not the best joke.

but I share it because true courage is not from overriding fear or pretending. It's rooted in honest contact with our vulnerability. You know, I was listening a while back to Krista Tippett, who I love, and she described one man that she had been in touch with, probably interviewed with, Matthew Sanford. And he was paralyzed from the waist down from an accident that he had when he was 13 that killed his father and his sister. As an adult he's been just an outstanding being doing really amazing work with veterans and others with disabilities.

And here's what Matthew says. He says he's yet to have yet to experience someone who became more aware of their body in all its frailty and grace, without at the same time becoming more compassionate towards all of life. This path of compassion asks for us to be opening and contacting the life of our body, including the vulnerability, the places where we can feel that we're not defended, that we're directly contacting the reality that life's uncertain. And we're at risk of and loss, that we have to be willing to contact that. And what we find, and this is the gift, it's through opening to our vulnerability that we actually

discover true courage. It's through opening to vulnerability that we discover true courage and a tender heart. This is sometimes called fierce compassion, and I love that the language of fierce compassion, because we discover true courage, which is a kind of strength and empowerment, a fearlessness, and with that a tenderness that can really be with our world. I want to remind you of a really valuable analogy for this fierce compassion or mature compassion that I first heard from Roshi Joan Halifax. and it's having a strong back, which means we're resource, safe, connected, and a soft front

so that we can meet what arises with care. There is a very well-known statue of the Buddha that expresses these two qualities of fierce compassion, the strong back and a soft front. and I first heard about this from a friend, author, Elizabeth Lesser. And in this statue, and you might even try it out right now, the Buddha's left palm is resting on his knee and it's open, it's cupped. And that's the symbol of the soft front, the compassion, the generosity, holding the world with care, not doing harm. his right palm is facing forward as the arms crooked so it's a level of a shoulder and this mudra which is a hand a meaningful symbolic hand position it symbolizes protection and peace

and true safe refuge it's the dispilling of fear so this is called the mudra of fearlessness and he made this uh mudra upon gaining in like and basically communicating that no matter what occurs in our life, no matter the currents of confusion or anger or fear, we can rest in this fearless spirit. So that's the dignity and power of the strong back. So again, together, you can sense the masculine and the feminine of the strength of the strong back and the tenderness of the soft front. There's compassion.

So I want to keep coming back to this as we practice together working with what comes up in us so that we can be on that transformational path that Martin Luther King really put forward. Hate never ends with hate. Only by love is hatred dispelled. I'd like to now share two examples. of really awakening that fierce compassion and then we'll practice together. And as you'll see in both examples, it has to begin by what I call the U-turn where when

we're triggered we come back to our own vulnerability and bring presence to that. Both of these examples came from last Saturdays Satsung, which as I've shared with you is I do most Saturdays where we come together and meditate and then people explore questions that are important to them. This is open to all of you. So in the first one, the woman that was asking the question described how her mother had struggled with alcoholism and now her sister's having the same struggle. And she herself had had a struggle but had found her way to really not getting caught in the addiction. So her response to her sister's struggle is one of anger and judgment.

And she she, her question is I feel like as a sister I should be able to show up for her to talk to her, to support her, but spending time with her is really triggering, it's traumatizing. And you know, she feels like her sister is really unwilling to help her. herself. So when they're together, she gets really activated and gets reminded of the past, but I should be compassionate, I should be helping. So that was her stuck place. So we did that U-turn. I invited her to get in touch with the anger and judgment she felt. And she did. And I said, you know, what else are you aware of as you really let that anger be there? Because I want to

remind you that always to honor whatever's here, to let it be there, you'll find that if we open to what's here, it'll unlayer itself when we really open in an embodied way. So that's what she was doing and she found under the anger a sense of powerlessness. I can't control this, I can't make her different, you know, powerlessness. And as she opened to that and really brought nurturing, because that's what self-compassion is, feeling the powerlessness and bringing her care to it, accepting it, letting it be there, and really holding a space for it. What opened up was a deep sadness and grieving, that sense of I love my sister. So before going back to spend time with her sister, what she most needed was that strong back

where she said, I can't control this and just to feel this as reality, you know, it's really that sense of that she'd nurtured herself and felt her sense of connection with her inner life and then that soft front of, and I love her, and I love her. Just to share with you, this just happened last Saturday and the guidance for her and for all of us is not to engage, to have a bad thing. boundary until we have some sense of being resourced and feeling that strong back and soft front that need to go together for there to be mature compassion. Okay, let me give you the second example of this.

Again, from last Saturday, a woman of color described how she felt really blocked in her compassion towards white people and her partner who's a white woman, Jewish woman, had been very upset about the focus every year happens of the holidays on Christmas. And for this woman she just felt triggered by that. And she offered other examples of ways that white people feel burdened and there's many ways that white people have felt oppressed or have suffering and she knows everybody suffers and yet there's some part of her that just feels intolerant and lacks compassion. get over it is kind of the response. So it's aversive because in some deep way she just feels

this sense of it's qualitatively different. For me, being black and gay and a woman, it's different. It's more. So there she was with her inner conflict of, you know, I should be compassionate and yet I feel aversion. Well, as we kind of held that together, I then shared what I had just recently heard an interview with Nikki Giovanni, who some of you may be aware of as a black poet and teacher, amazing poet. Well, Nikki Giovanni did an interview with James Baldwin in 1973, and I want to read you something she said in that interview. She said, one of the nicest things we created as a generation was just the fact that we could say, hey, I don't like white people. And then that was the beginning, of course, of being able to like them. To me, that is such a

powerful and helpful naming of what happens, is that, as she put it this way, she says, you have to get it out, then something else can come back in. And for this woman, naming the experience of judging, disliking white people, feeling a hardness against white people, not making that wrong. Just being aware and accepting the naturalness of feeling aversion, feeling kindness towards her own reactivity. That's the beginning of building a strong back, being honest with what's here, being compassion towards what's here. And then we naturally become more spacious, more tender, we start having room for others. The point is that we don't get to compassion if we push away the feelings we think we shouldn't

feel. We need to be truthful with ourselves. That's what develops the courage, the strong back, being truthful ourselves, truthful about our feelings of jealousy, truthful about our own hatred, about our own shame about our own anger. And when we can hold that with compassion, there's a strength, there are a fearlessness that arises and a tenderness that has room for others. Then we're like that Buddha where we've been in touch with truth and so wrong hand. We have that fearless spirit and my hand's cupped. We have that tender heart. Okay, so now let's look at how with that

fierce compassion, we can begin to widen the circles. And it's so important that we can do that for healing relationships and healing our society. And it may be very immediately watching the circle, learning how we can open our hearts to a self-destructive family member, somebody who's being violent to themselves and we disapprove because of the way they're dealing with their own troubles. Or maybe it's opening our hearts to those whose beliefs and actions we feel are harmful. Okay? So we'll just look at that kind of genre. And again, just as we process our own experience, let's say we're feeling anger and we let it be there and we feel into the vulnerability underneath it and we bring compassion. Just as we do that with our inner life,

We need to learn the same process in bearing witness to another. So we can start seeing past the mask of their ego defenses and aggressions and intuit their vulnerability, into it what's driving them. I've always been inspired, well as soon as I heard about her by Ruby Sales, civil rights, activist, icon, very wise woman. And one of the phrases that's been such a takeaway has been when she views people perhaps causing harm to themselves or others, just asking that question, where does it hurt? Where does it hurt? It's like saying, what's it like being you? know, underneath that hatred or anger or violence, what's going on? Because there's hurt under

there. And then letting ourselves as we bear witness to that be touched by that vulnerability and offer our care. That's the components of compassion. Now, a reminder, just to pause to remind you of this, that like weight training, you know, if you're just to just to remind you of this, you know, if you're just starting compassion training, you know, widening the circles and opening your hearts to other, don't try to bench press 350, you know, start. In other words, don't start with a person that triggers the most trauma. You have to develop that strong back and soft front and you do it by training with easier lifts, you know, with where there's maybe judgment or irritation or hurt, but not full-blown hatred and trauma.

And in general, you need to go more slowly, more carefully if you have been traumatized. If we've been traumatized, we need more protection and it has to be a gentle entry into the vulnerability inside us and then to look towards others. And another reminder is any time you're exploring widening the circles and bringing compassion to another person, let's say you feel like you've developed that strong, back, you're strong back and soft front, but then you start opening to another person and feeling reactivity, just come right back to what's going on inside you. It takes a lot of opening but then having to return to ourselves and our own vulnerability

until we're really in the fullness of that fierce compassion. And if we don't come back to our own experience, we're actually doing a spiritual bypass. If we don't really come back to where there's still judgment, are still hurt, or still fear, we can't have a full compassion. So really for the sake of truly freeing your heart, come back. So we're going to practice together now and we'll practice by widening the circles to someone who's easier in your life and then we'll stretch it a little to someone who's more difficult. So I invite you wherever you are to find a posture that allows you to be relaxed

and awake, letting the attention go inward, and take some moments to let go of any habitual tension, allowing your body and your mind to settle some. Take us some moments to scan through family members or friends who are close to you and choose someone, uh, that's, you. who is having a hard time, but not someone where you have a real reaction to, someone who's having a hard time and it's easy to feel caring for. And just connect with your intention to awaken compassion towards this person. And I will follow the acronym reign of compassion. The R of Rain is recognized. Become aware of whatever is most predominant about this person as you reflect on their current challenges.

So as you did earlier, just remember what's going on, the mood they're frequently in, the way they appear, maybe the tone of voice in a recent communication, whatever lets you know this person's having a hard time. And the A of Rain is allow, just allow whatever you're noticing to be there, not adding any judgment, not adding any interpretations. And now begin to investigate.

This is really critical part of the training to bring curiosity, to bring interest, to attend more closely to what's actually life like for this person. So your inquiry is really what's it like being you? Where does it hurt? You might imagine living inside them and feeling with their heart and viewing the world from their perspective. And some people find it helpful to let their posture and face kind of express what you're sensing about this person.

I'm going to ask some questions and you might imagine you're this person and how you'd respond. So what life circumstances are most distressing to you right now? What are the particular fears or disappointments or hurts you're caring? And what are you believing about yourself, your life? Again, you're the person that's hurting, you're imagining from their perspective. How does this suffering feel in your body when you're believing whatever you're believing? How does the fear, hurt, shame, anger, how does it feel in your heart and your body?

Where do you feel most vulnerable? You might sense what's the most vulnerable feeling this person's living with. And you might sense from that vulnerable place what's most wanted or needed right now from others, from yourself. So you're sensing what does this person most need? When we move to the end of rain nurturing so you're keeping this person and their vulnerability in your heart and your awareness but expand your awareness and come back to your whole body and the sounds and space around you.

And from that wholeness, really feeling your awake heart, sensing this being as part of you and offer what's needed. You might imagine that you're putting your hand on a person's heart or holding them, feeling them inside you, offering, is it acceptance this person needs? company, being held, forgiveness, understanding. Take a few moments to imagine offering what's needed, perhaps a message of care, and you can deepen the nurturing. This is called tunglin, taking in and sending out.

It's a Tibetan compassion practice. if you breathe in and let yourself feel their vulnerability inside you, taking it in. And as you breathe out, offer the space and care and whatever's needed. Breathing in, contacting this being's vulnerability, breathing out, offering space, care, or whatever is needed. Letting go of all doing, just sense the quality now of heart space that's here, perhaps like that Buddha statue sensing the strong, fearless spirit, strong back and that wide open heart. And you can bring that fearless compassion now as we explore someone who matters to but it's harder to feel compassion.

Perhaps you feel blocked by judgment, anger. I invite you not to choose a person where there's deep wounding and trauma, choosing someone in your life and when you do, connecting with your intention to awaken fierce compassion, authentic compassion towards this person, bringing the person to mind and becoming aware of what's going on for them, becoming aware of their life, the way they're acting, and become aware of aware of what triggers you about this person. It might be a recent situation the way they spoke or acted or appeared. Whatever triggers you, let it be immediate so you can feel what comes up, what really blocks compassion. The R of Rain is just to recognize what you're feeling honestly.

Judgment, anger, aversion, the A of Raines to allow it, let it be there. You might even say, this belongs. Now you can begin to investigate with interest what's going on inside you. Maybe what you're believing about this person, that they're maybe causing harm to themselves or to others or to you. They don't care. Whatever the worst part is for you that blocks you from compassion. Just be aware of what you're believing about them. And also be aware of how that feels in your body, how your reaction, the anger, fear, the hurt lives in your body and even deepening the investigation to sense what's the most vulnerable part of this? What am I most unwilling to feel? Is it fear, hurt, powerlessness? With honesty and courage, just letting yourself feel

what's here you might put your hand on your heart to keep company with what's here, what's really underneath the armoring. And you can deepen this into nurturing. Just keep in touch with that vulnerability. But call in your most loving and wise heart and offer whatever most comfort and heal this vulnerable place in this moment. Let your touch be tender on your heart. You might send the words or message that can help. Words. of acceptance. Acceptance, I can't control. I can't control them.

Or maybe a deep and tenderness toward yourself. Trust that you're loved. Trust your goodness. Or maybe some truth and everybody's doing their best, at least at this moment the best they can. Or maybe you address the fear and say thank you for trying to protect me, but I'm okay. Or maybe you tell yourself, I'm with you, I'm not leaving. I can give you strength.

You might bring your breathing to this, to breathe in and feel the vulnerability, taking in, touching, and then breathing at and offering whatever space, love, reassurance will serve healing. And you might sense the presence that's emerging, the shift from being a reactive self to more awake awareness. you can sense a strong back, a more fearless spirit, that courage and that soft front where there's more tenderness. And if you feel ready, you might begin to explore widening compassion to this other person. If you don't feel ready, continue to bring a nurturing presence to your

own experience. And if you start to open to the other and you get some reactivity, come back to your own vulnerability. But if ready, you might bring this other person to mind and sense the way they're behaving and wonder, where does it hurt? Where do you imagine they feel most vulnerable, not okay? What hurts? Are there disappointments, self-doubt, loneliness, fear, no matter how misguided their beliefs, can you sense the fear that lives underneath them? How whatever you're judging about them, the way their being arises from fear or hurt, mistrust, confusion. What is it that vulnerable place in them most wants or needs right now?

You can begin to nurture if you feel ready or come back to your own vulnerability if not. if you're ready keeping this person and their vulnerability in your heart, expanding your awareness to your whole body to the sounds and space around you, from that wholeness, offering that fierce compassion, that strong back and soft front, feeling that this being is part of you, that you can offer what's needed. Is it acceptance? held, forgiveness, love. You might imagine this person receiving and letting in your care. Perhaps it's a message. Perhaps you just imagine touching their cheek or their heart. And if it helps

to support this with the breath, breathing in their vulnerability, taking in and breathing out your care, offering space and love and tenderness. And now you might be able to be in your care. And might widen the circles even further to imagine all of those who suffer in the same way as this person, perhaps living in fear, mistrust, shame, self-doubt, and see if you can breathe for all these beings, just trusting the vastness of your heart that you can breathe in the suffering And you can breathe out and offer to all beings the space, the care, the tenderness, the healing of your heart, of your heart space that's vast, that has room. And then let go of all ideas of others.

This is after the rain, after we do these steps of rain. And just notice the quality of heart and presence is right here. Is there more openness, tenderness? Can you sense that power of a fearless spirit and a tender heart? Whatever you find, let go into what's here and just rest. If you'd like to keep your eyes closed, that's fine or open your eyes if they've been shut. So friends, we know that through human history we've been in conflicts at cycle and cycle, both in personal ways and societal ways.

In our survival brain, the anger and hatred often rules and locks in. And we live in a sustained way with enemies, with bad others. But we also know we have this capacity of compassion and we can grow it. We can more and more make bridges and collaborate and care in widening circles. And this is the hope, no matter how much conflict, this is the hope. And the pathway is courageous that we come back to the truth of our own vulnerability, bring kindness there and then wide in the circles, bringing that fierce compassion, that strong back and soft front to others in an empowering way.

We start where it's easiest and then we extend our and extend ourselves. We extend ourselves to get closer in with those who are different from us. As we know, we stay in our bubbles of familiar people. So we widen because it's harder to hate when we're close into others. So start getting close to those who are different. Get curious with a family or colleague, family member colleague who's politically different, who you basically like, but there's that hardening. And if you're reactive and if you expect to be reactive, prepare in advance with this strong back and soft front, honor what you can handle. If there's trauma, we're less able. So we'll close with just a few moments of quietness. We started really with that

sense of our fragile earth from space and we know as soon as we get more perspective, we can't see the divisions. There really is no such thing as a separate country or group of individuals. It's all infinitely interrelated, all of a peace, all belongs. And life is fragile. It's passing, it's precious. So for the sake of our earth, each other, our own hearts, May we practice, may we cultivate this fierce, compassionate heart. So again, just to sit quietly for a few moments and I'll share a poem with you. Walk gently on this earth with purposeful steps. You share this space with seven billion human beings and countless other precious life forms.

Just like you, they all want to be happy and safe. just like you they all need love we're not going to survive unless we walk gently on this earth together until we touch something in others that feels just like the shards of our own pain the fluttering warmth of our own joy until we sow their wounds into our hearts and seal it with our own skin thank you for your presence and your good hearts. All blessings.