Tara Brach - Living Aligned with the Heart

Episode Date: February 24, 2010

2010-02-24 - We suffer when our words or actions arise from unconscious wants and fears. This talk explores how we can awaken from the habitual ways we cause harm to ourselves and others, and live from our natural intelligence and tender warmth.

So it's been a long time. It feels really nice to see you all again. Pretty wild weather scene. And I talked to a lot of people, and I've been in touch by email, and there's primarily two gifts that people talk about of the last, you know, if you step aside from all the inconveniences and so on. And one was that, of course, it disrupted habits like crazy. So the crack between the worlds opens up.

There's a little more of a sense of wonder and play and the mystery of things. How many of you found that? Yeah. Yeah. It was beautiful. And the other is that so many people talked about the kind of kindness and sense of connection in neighborhood and showing up for each other that happened. And just a real sense of community.

And I'm wondering also, how many of you found that? that it just came out. Yeah. So one of the things I keep finding is that when people aren't afraid, when they're not caught up too much in fear, and when they sense their shared predicament, there is a sense of belonging with each other.

It just comes out. It's almost like that's the natural way that we can feel that. And then, of course, when we get caught up in stress, we become separate in our separate little orbits again and that gets obscured. But it's certainly beautiful when it opens up. There is a Zen saying that I really love that summarizes the spiritual path, which is that we sit and we sweep the garden.

We sit, kind of internally, get in touch, and then we sweep the garden, we take care of our life. Now, for our crowd, it could be we sit and we shovel the snow, right? I'm sure you saw that coming. But the idea is that in a spiritual path that's really an authentic and whole path, it's not just about getting in touch with our inner life. It's not just about quieting our mind. In fact, if it's true awakening, it will show up as a concern for other people.

It will show up as a care for the world. It's not like we really can compartmentalize. So tonight what I'd like to talk about is how really nothing is exempt. It's like how we move through our life, whether it's how we talk to people on the phone when there's someone that's at the other end of a 1-800 number or how we are in traffic or how we are when we're late and somebody asks us something or whatever. it's all part of being awake, or not being awake. And the Buddhist path is divided into three distinct categories

that I find as kind of arctypal in most paths. And one of the elements is called SILA, which is wise behavior, ethics, virtue. And the other element is called samadhi, which has to do with the training of the mind, to be concentrated and mindful. And then the third is Panya, which is the wisdom or understanding that comes. And each of them is reliant on the other.

As one friend of mine says, you can't go through the day lying and stealing and raping and plundering and then come home and have a lovely meditation. It just doesn't work that way. So they're all connected. And you'll find in not just spiritual communities, but in every religion and in every culture, there are guidelines also on how we live. I always like this Garrison Kuehler comment.

He says, my ancestors were Puritans from England. They arrived here in 1648 in the hope of finding greater restrictions than were permissible under English law at that time. It's in all cultures, and it's in all cultures in some ways that make sense, in some ways don't. Somebody sent me recently. These are signs that were found, one in a cemetery. Persons are prohibited from picking flowers from any but their own graves.

And at Tokyo hotels rules and regulations, guests are requested not to smoke or do other disgusting behaviors in bed. This is posted in Germany's Black Forest. It is strictly forbidden on our Black Forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for this purpose. Cocktail lounge, Norway. Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.

Just one more. This isn't a Bangkok temple. It is forbidden to enter a woman, even a foreigner, if dressed as a man. Anyway, so. SILA, ethics on a spiritual path, is not about rigid rules or nonsensical rules. And it's important to mention the shadow side of any ethical guidelines because it can become the do's and do nots that suppress spontaneity or that are used as a way to not have people have the freedom of speech

that can be used by those on top to keep others down. So there's ethics and guidelines and conduct has been a domain that has been, of course, misused. It's got a strong shadow. side. And yet it's also something that deserves our deep mindful attention. There's a Tibetan saying that I wanted to read to you. Allow your mind to be as vast as the sky and your daily conduct to be as fine as a grain of sand. Isn't that beautiful? In the sense that let your heart, your mind, let it be open, awake, and free.

And then from that freedom, let your moments express your love. Express that wisdom. Moment to moment. Be here for your life. So it comes from a wise understanding that how we live, how we treat each other, it affects our own consciousness,

and it affects the earth. It can be daunting if we enter a reflection on how we live in the world and there is a undercurrent of, okay, this is another opportunity to judge how I'm imperfect. And most everybody I know has some of that in how we observe ourselves. Because if we scan and we look at, well, how are we sweeping our garden? Okay.

When we ask that question, of course, for those of you that, have come on these Wednesday nights, you know we'll be doing a reflection that kind of asks that, right? You know that. When we look, what we find is that when we're not stressed out, we're somewhat congruent, that we move through our lives and we really do express our care. And there is a natural generosity.

And when the storm comes, unless we're really having a hard time, It's just our reflex. It's a joy to help each other out. So we come into our nature when we're not stressed. But we also know most everyone lives with stress in our bodies. And sometimes a lot. And it's not our fault. We're in a highly stressed world and a culture.

It's just the speed of our culture and the competition and the values and the consuming. It just is stressful. There's so much violence, so much addiction. So whether it's our culture, our families of origin, where each of us experienced to our own degree, the stress of kind of messages to be different in some way or that we're not okay, we live with stress. And when we are feeling stressed,

we behave in ways that create injury to ourselves and others. It just happens. So we can start looking and we can notice when we get stressed. we're defensive or we're judgmental or we go into our particular favorite addictive behavior. So this isn't an occasion to like evaluate and put ourselves down. It's more a recognition that we can't change in the past the ways we've acted. We can't change the fact that for each of us we have certain things we've done that we really regret and some ongoing ways we behave

that just create a pattern that we wish we weren't in. We can't change that. What we can change is how in this moment we relate to our life. And the entire experience that unfolds in our future comes out of any moment

that we choose to be present. That's the one place we have power. We can't change the purpose of power. past in terms of what we might call unwise behaviors. But we can change our karmic patterns right in the present moment and hence the training is right in the present moment. So when the Buddha's disciples had a glimmer of this possibility, they asked the Buddha basically, in terms of spiritual freedom, what do I do? And he responded with a very powerful kind of simplicity.

He said, do no harm, act for the good, purify the mind. This is the teaching of all the Buddhas. Do no harm, act for the good, purify the mind. This is the teaching of all the Buddhas. So what if we went through the day, the rest of this evening, tomorrow, with the lens, with the reminder of in this moment, do no harm? In this moment, act for the good. In this moment, let the mind be pure, really, really present.

One of the descriptions of the power of SILA is very similar to the description of having the breath or another anchor or home base. For many of you here, you know that it's inevitable that the mind wanders. We get reactive, we get lost. Everybody. But what an amazing thing that we might have this anchor, this breath that we know, okay, it lets us know we've left and we've got a place to come home to. And in the same way, when we commit to what the Buddhists call the ethical precepts, and we say, okay, I'm committed to non-harming.

I'm committed to serving the good. That doesn't mean we think we can do it all the time, but that's what our intention is. It's like this home base that keeps on bringing us back to who we are. So the Buddha set forth five basic training precepts. Those are places where we intend to do no harm and to really cultivate a quality of reverence for life. And the first one's not killing are not causing injury. And the second one is not stealing or not taking what's not ours. In other words, not acting with greed.

The third is not using false speech. The fourth, not harming through the misuse of sexuality. And the last one is not harming through inappropriate use of intoxicants. And at the beginning of a retreat, a Buddhist retreat or ceremony, many times there's a reflection on each of these. And again, it's not to judge ourselves, castigate ourselves for the past, but to remember, oh, this is my home base. this is what I can remember. Do not create harm. Serve the good. So we'll look at tonight how when we get caught in a pattern where we are causing harm, how we can wake up and come back home to the expression of who we really are. And in a way, you can think of training yourself. There's inside out

and there's outside in. So one level of training in the ethical guidelines is the outside in way of just, even if you're not feeling full with compassion or generosity, go ahead and do that generous act. Give of yourself, give of your time, give of your energy, give a smile, like have that as your intention, even if it's acting as if.

And the power of it, which is so interesting, is that when you, in some way, offer a kindness, when you give someone a hug, when you remember to be grateful, to express gratitude, it actually energetically aligned you with where that lives inside you. The outside in actually carries you back. It carries you home some. A priest was walking down the street when he saw a little boy. jumping up and down trying to ring a doorbell. The poor kid was too small and the bell was too high.

So the priest went up and rang the bill for the little fellow. Then turning to the kid with a smile, he asked, what do we do now? The little fellow said, run like hell. That's a little bit of outside in. That's one level of training ourselves. And it can be very specific that you can, at the beginning of the day,

have the intention to extend kindness. and actually sense what's up and coming and sense where the opportunities will be. And it becomes a habit and then it becomes truly an expression of who you are. But the focus I'd like to kind of spend some time with, which I think is more challenging in a certain way, is what I call the inside-out approach to SILA, to this training in how we can live in our world, with our behavior aligned with our hearts.

We suffer when it's not the case. Even when we're not that conscious of it, we suffer when we move through the day and say things and act in ways that really are not the expression of who we, in the deepest way, sense ourself to be. We suffer. So how to get aligned.

So again, the pattern, that we get caught in is that we get stressed in some way there's wants, there's fears, there's unmet needs at play in our body, in our mind, in our heart. That compels us into unconscious behaviors

that in some way are our way to try to relieve the stress or get what we need. And then that unconscious behavior locks us into an identity of a wanting, fearing self. We get caught in a smaller sense of self when we act out. So the first step is to start recognizing where that's happening in our lives.

And there's the very common domains of what are considered unwise behaviors that cause harm. And some come from the wanting self that always feels like there's not enough. And when we're caught in the wanting self, every interaction we have with each other has an agenda. there is never a time that we're with each other and on some level not wanting to prove something about ourselves get attention, get approval, in some way control things

so others relate to us in a certain way get their money, get their energy, get their time, in some way we're trying to turn a profit from each interaction. And that sounds a little harsh but it's very interesting just to be aware of any engagement you're in

and notice if there's some sort of an agenda. If there's anything you're wanting to happen or wanting not to happen. Okay, so that's the wanting self. Now, the fearing self is just the flip side. The fearing self in any engagement, in any way we're relating to others, is in some way trying to protect ourselves

so we're not seen, so we're not hurt. That's the fearing self. the fearing self then creates harm by in some way either being very very defended are taking tensions out on others in other words and if you're not going to hurt me i'm going to push you away i'm going to judge you i'm going to pounce on you the main way that i find for most people that we cause harm that we get caught in unconscious behaviors is in our speech that's the main thing going on in our communications where in some way there are slight untruths

sometimes they're not great untruths where in some way there's unkindness where we're putting ourselves up and others down and sometimes it happens in gossip we really do talk a lot about each other behind each other's backs that happens a lot jokes at other people's expense

ways that we exaggerate our pretend in some way we use our words to create an impression that's different than the truth so mostly and it depends on how we're brought up but if we were in some way punished for how things were

we learned to not say what's true and cover over and try to create an impression somebody sent me this recently to illustrate a guy's drive

driving around the backwoods of Montana, and he sees a sign in front of a broken-down shanty-style house, talking dog for sale. He rings the bell, and the owner appears and tells him the dogs in the backyard. The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice-looking lab retriever sitting there. You talk, yes? Yep, the lab replies. After the guy recovers in the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says, So what's your story?

The lab looks up and says, well, I discovered I could talk when I was pretty young. to help the governments, I told the CIA. In no time at all, they had me jetting from country to country sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders because no one figured a dog could be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running, but the jetting around really tired me out. I knew I wasn't getting any younger, so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job in an airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies.

And now I'm just retired. The guy's amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog. $10, the guy says. $10? This dog's amazing. Why on earth are you selling him so cheap? Because he's a liar.

He never did any of that shit. So I know that's a little stretch in illustrating my point. There's been studies done on how frequently people tell untruths. And it's amazing the amount, the percentage of people that when they're kind of questioned closely, come to realize how many moments in some way what they're saying is not really what they know to be real. It's amazing. And it's because we're all insecure. In some way, there's a sense of I'm not enough as I am. Or something's really wrong that's going to get me in trouble. So what motivates us to really make our behavior, our conduct as fine as sand,

is because as we start paying attention, we realize how much pain it causes us, that when we don't speak truth, it creates distance. We don't like ourselves. Something in us gets identified with the insecure one that's having to stretch things. There's a beautiful teaching that our love can really be described as the deepening truths

that we're able to tell each other. So when we aren't real, there's a distance and it hurts. In a similar way, when we, out of our fears, in some way,

judge or blame, which we always, all do so much. It's a reflex of the mind to put others down in some way when we're feeling not okay. We don't like ourselves for it, even if it gives us a temporary swell of I'm better or I'm important or I'm the right one. We still something deep down knows that we have to be insecure to put someone down. When we're happy, when we're feeling at home in ourselves, we don't need to put other people down. I mentioned the precept of not stealing and we think to ourselves, well, I don't steal. But in a way, it's stealings anytime we're taking more than we need or than is

really ours when we're not walking lightly on the earth and from others also. When we take attention or credit, there's one story of one man who ran a marketing team and he would present the strategies they came up with to the vice president of his company. And some became very, very successful. They had some very kind of ones that kind of were breakout strategies. And he took credit and started feeling very, very sleazy, as he put it, because he was really getting all the claps on the back from the higher-ups. But it was really not just his team.

There were two particular young people on his team that were brilliant. and we're coming up with these strategies. And finally couldn't live with himself. And it wasn't until not only did he praise these two young people to the VP, but he really expressed his gratitude to them and honoring them. He said the feeling in his body that just opened up, we're not aware when our conduct and our ways of navigating, they're so habitual, we're not aware of the tightness.

that accompanies it. We're not aware of how much our hearts stay armored or tight when we're not quite speaking the truth or when we're even having some sort of an unflattering commentary about somebody. Our bodies are contracted.

So the beginning of waking up and choosing to come into presence so that we can actually change our karma is when we get that awareness that something's off. I'm not aligned. And as I mentioned, the more you meditate,

the more sensitive you get to not being quite aligned, that you'll have a conversation, you'll go back to and go, I didn't need to say that, or that was hurtful. Give you a recent example from my life of how this came about. Where I live, we stayed snowed in for quite a long time. The plows didn't get there.

So it really made a difference in my neighborhood that, well, first of all, one person that helped a whole lot with a shoveling, somebody else got some trees down that were in the way, somebody else gave me a ride so I could get some food. I mean, I was really the beneficiary. And there was a lot of warmth, a lot of intimacy with people that bear. barely, we would barely see each other. So when I finally got my car got out, I was feeling not only is this little neighborhood, my neighborhood, but this whole world is my neighborhood. And I was kind of excited to go into town because our stores right around where I live,

you kind of know people. So I first go to the bank, to Wachovia, and got in the conversation with a bank teller. We were sharing stories about the storm, and we bonded more deeply. You know, it was great. Go to Safeway. And at the at the register the guy at the register and someone else who works there were telling me their story about how they'd gotten locked at the store sort of snowed in

for four days they were there and we had a great, we had a great talk and when I left this guy, he's probably in his 40s, he said, oh great to talk to you young lady, have a good day. Well, that young lady, I just I floated out of that one. Went to another store

Oh, I went and got my hair done and one of the women there's name was Tara so of course we connected and my hairdresser brought her daughter there so that we could meet because her daughter's beginning to write and wanted to get some tips but we had a great time. So it was like I just felt this sense of

this is the way to live to really feel our belonging to the world. It just was sweet as you know the story doesn't end there I got home and I got an email from a person that I really really care about who basically communicated

that he was hurt and disappointed in me and my expansiveness contracted and I became very very little because my small self is very invested in feeling that others trust me and others get that I'm on their team and so on. So, you know, I went into total reactivity, and I madly tapped out my response to the email,

which is on some level, I'm angry that you're upset, you know. And I've tried hard to, you know, keep this mutual project, you know, because there was a disappointment that I wasn't able to do what I thought I could do. Well, here's the saving grace. I had a glimmer of consciousness, and I obeyed a universal law. do not press the send button right

basically I paused I paused and I paused for some hours and I could feel the small self that was in reaction and what that whole behavior and message and so on who I was in that and the pause was long enough that there was enough settling

that what most mattered was this is a person I love you know and there's got to be a way to come from that and not from the reactivity and during that time during the pause I got in touch with my own vulnerability which was the feeling of you know I need somehow rather I need to be able to take care of myself and be okay with that and and just getting in touch with that's okay too and that that I could come from that that realness So at the end of the day, I wrote a different email, which was just communicating, I care. You know, we care about each other.

Here's what's more real. I tried to be more real. And the response back was incredibly loving and supportive and sweet. So my bliss was back. But what I want to say in this story is that it would have been okay if I didn't get a mutual response. because what was important was that, and this is what comes back to have your mind, your heart open and your conduct as fine as sin, what was important was that I was aligned with more of the truth of who I am. And we can trust that when we're aligned, on some level it ripples out.

On some level, it helps the world. even if we're not able the person or the others involved can't meet us in those moments or in this lifetime it's still about coming into presence so

there's a question that comes up a lot which is okay that all sounds really nice and you just happen to have nice friends that understand but what if you're really being violated okay what if we're really being violated and the best I can say is that we're designed to take care of this body and take care of loved ones and those that are dear.

And there's that age-old inquiry of when is violence justified. And I'm not so sure that's a useful question. I think a more important question is that what can we do to make it possible to act from as much compassion and presence and wisdom as is here? and to the degree that we can pause and come into presence will respond from more of our natural intelligence, more clarity, more love.

So it's not, I feel like I'd be cheating myself if I tried to come to some absolute of yes, violence here, no violence there. Truthfully, when we're coming from a angry, hateful place, it just continues the spirals of violence. The only hope for healing our own psyches, our own hearts, and the earth is to pause and come from more presence. To get out of an idea of other is a bad other. As long as we're living in that, and it's a trance, that doesn't mean that people won't hurt us.

It just means that if we lock into, I'm in the right, that person's in the wrong, we just continue the energy. that creates hurt in this world. So the search for each of us is what will help in those times that in our personal lives we know we go into trance. Pema Chodran has brought into our consciousness the word Shempa.

It's a Tibetan word where there's a kind of stickiness where we get compelled. When something comes up and we have to say the thing that's there, that we can't hold back or we have to grab at food

or we have to react in some way and the inquiry really is when that comes up when that energy comes up that we really have to have we want and we're about to cause harm because of that or we in some way

have so much anger that we have to push away and hurt how in those moments can we come into presence and change our karmic pattern Because if we go ahead and act out of that Shampa, all we do is deepen the groove of causing harm. This is Choghyaam Trunkva. He says, as long as we are trying to figure out how we can escape from our present situation, we can't notice much about it.

In other words, if our present situation is, I want something, I have to have it. That's a way of trying to escape from it. I have to have this drink, this cigarette. If our present situation is, I can't stand the way you're treating me and I'm going to show you and tell you and get you back. That's trying to escape from it. We're escaping from the feeling.

He says, only when we feel that this is it, this is how it is right now, without any clutching towards something different, will our intelligence really come alive. As soon as we've released the resistance, the seeking a way out, we become softer, fuller, more tender and awake. Rather than a small fearful self, there is the freedom of opening unconditionally to life as it is and becoming that openness. The key is pausing.

We cannot change our patterns unless we're willing to pause, unless we're willing to not press the send button, to not say the thing we feel like we have to say, to let another. person know what we think. Sometimes the hardest situation is when we're in an argument, and this is the most courageous thing we can do when we're in an argument, is to feel that build up of pressure and heat and urgency to get out what we have to get out, and just to pause, to not try to get away from the situation of our feelings, and just to feel that huge discomfort. and even pausing for a little bit, we start arriving again in who we are.

Just a little pausing creates a space for the light to start shining through. Does that make sense? I remember talking to someone who is involved with a 12-step program and was talking about addiction and pausing, and he said a 15-second pause is equal to six months' of meetings. But you can get it, right? I mean, the power of what normally is a reflexive habit, that space of 15 seconds is like a universe to begin to touch again. Oh, what really matters? What do I really care about? What really is the effect or something? Now, it may be that we

pause 15 second and do the same exact behavior. That's okay. That's okay. There'll be a little more consciousness and consciousness is the antidote to suffering. So when we're stuck, three steps. When we're stuck in the process, in the Shempa, about to go act out, okay, three steps. Pause and take three breaths. That we can do. Recognize, like Trunpa says, this is it. What's happening right here? Just take a moment to just, how is it right now, right here? and then with the intention to relax move into what's next resume activity

pause and take the three breaths okay what's happening and then relax and resume just that practice alone can interrupt habits of a lifetime it can interrupt patterns that have separated us from others and it brings us to the one place

where we can create a different future right here. I'm not going to speak too much longer, but just name a more subtle level of SELA, of this way of living according to our heart. Often we talk about not creating harm. To me, it really is a reverence for life that we're coming home to presence and so we can express it.

And one of the ways that we obscure that reverence is a kind of way that we withhold ourselves from our experience. We withhold ourselves from fully being present. We withhold from fully loving. We withhold from fully taking wonder in things. And there's a Zen teacher, Senai Nancy Mujo Baker,

who has a term, she calls it 100%. She says, imagine loving 100%. Imagine acknowledging someone 100% with no thought of getting something in return. And she talks about how we're stingy with ourselves that we'll say thank you or we're grateful, but it's not 100% that we're really in touch with and feeling and expressing what's there.

Or she'll say we'll feel our love for somebody, but we don't like open ourselves to the 100% of it. something in us that holds back from the fullness of what we are. When we get very, very present, we tap into really this inherent nature, which is intelligent, which is open, which is incredibly tender. And that's when the 100% flows through. So we're going to be doing a brief reflection or meditation together. And you can either sense this as something where you really want to turn around a behavior

that's a habit that causes harm are a way that you want to go more fully into the 100% of what's possible, the reverence for life. And you'll sense what's asking for attention as you practice. Take a moment to find a way of sitting. You might move your posture around a little bit. This is not a long reflection, but come in a way that's comfortable enough.

Be aware as you perhaps close your eyes and let your attention go inward, that this is a sacred pause. And just sense whatever helps you arrive in this pause. It might be that you bring an attention to the breath. It might be that you take a moment to consciously let go a little, where there's unconscious tightness, so the shoulders, the hands. Sense yourself right here

and invite your own awareness to bring forth whatever most wants attention, some recent time perhaps that you felt that you acted in a way that caused harm to yourself, to others, something recent.

It could be very overt or very, very subtle where you either violated yourself with an addictive behavior, perhaps you got on your own case in a harsh way, or maybe you told a lie to someone else, maybe you became hurtfully critical, took credit for something that wasn't yours,

put down somebody behind their back. It might have been something very subtle with child or friend or partner where you just knew you held back your 100% you in some way were some part of you distracted or preoccupied when you really wished that you would have brought your wholeness

of presence. So just choosing some situation recently. For most of us there's many, many situations. It's whatever most is drawing your attention. When you've chosen something as if you're watching a movie of it,

rerun the situation to write before the acting out are the real moment that's most critical to you. Just rerun the situation and see visually what was going on. If there were words exchanged, just listen to the words,

sense the feelings, As well as you can, the more you can put yourself into what was going on, the more effective it'll be. But pause right before you say what you wished you hadn't said or act in some way that you regret. Pause. As if you're living it but now able to pause. Pause before you press the send button. Take a few breaths. sense this incredible possibility of connecting right here in the moment, pause, breathe. What's going on inside me?

Just check. What's the Shempa, the compelling feeling, the sense of I have to have or I can't, that something's really wrong. What are you believing? What are you feeling? You might sense what you most need, really need. If you couldn't act out in some way, is it attention or comfort, recognition, relief, love?

Just offer yourself whatever you feel is needed, whatever in presence will allow you to be fully here, more free to choose wisely. And if another person's involved, widen your view to sense the other, to look through the eyes of wisdom and sense what might be happening for the other person. What is that person most needing in the moment?

Imagine now continuing with your life, responding in the way that most expresses who you are, responding in the way that creates no harm that serves the good that allows you to inhabit 100% of your heart and awareness. You might even sense something coming up tonight, tomorrow, the next day, with another person or others. What would it be like if you engaged, paid attention, related in a way that really expressed

100% of your heart and your awareness? What would that look like? This is Havis. It happens all the time in heaven and someday it will begin to happen again on earth that men and women that friends who give each other light often will get down on their knees and with tears in their eyes will sincerely speak saying my dear how can i be more loving to you how can i be more kind Namaste So the invitation is before the end of tonight or tomorrow if you'd like

to sense some way of sweeping the garden that allows you to explore this kind of kindness the way the Dalai Lama puts it my religion is kindness something tonight by the end of the night tomorrow

where you stretch where you're more awake You might pick a few people who you habitually ignore or don't respond well to or somebody that you love and it's easy with. The teaching you have received has been freely offered. If you would like to contact the Insight Meditation Community of Washington to make a donation or to learn more about our programs, please visit our website at www.imcw.org.