“Every­thing that has a begin­ning has an end­ing.  Make peace with that and all will be well.” Jack Korn­field

I’m in con­stant pur­suit of hap­pi­ness, but this does­n’t mean that I ignore that suf­fer­ing hap­pens inside me, in those I love, in our com­mu­ni­ties and around the world.

“Hap­pi­ness and joy are imper­ma­nent, like every­thing else.  In order for hap­pi­ness to be extend­ed and renewed, we have to learn how to feed our hap­pi­ness.  Even if hap­pi­ness is already man­i­fest­ing, we have to con­tin­ue to nour­ish it.”

Sim­pli­fy your life by let­ting go.  Most of us try to hold onto things after their time, whether it is clut­ter in our homes, our purs­es, rela­tion­ships, or expe­ri­ences.  Let­ting go takes a lot of courage and revis­it­ing bad mem­o­ries is a ter­ri­ble, sick game we all play.  I find that imme­di­ate­ly after let­ting go, relief and joy fol­low.

We are too often fear­ful­ly attached to an expe­ri­ence or per­son and it is pre­cise­ly that attach­ment that is hold­ing us back from tru­ly being hap­py.  Once we let go of that heart­break or loss of a job or par­ent, hap­pi­ness will find us.  We should­n’t ignore that suf­fer­ing hap­pens, but we need to learn how to suf­fer well.  Expe­ri­ences, both good and bad are lessons and reminders.  I’ve read some­where that suf­fer­ing hap­pens to make us more com­pas­sion­ate, to make us more aware of all our bless­ings and to trea­sure the good things we have right now.

“My desire to live is as intense as ever, and though my heart is bro­ken, hearts are made to be bro­ken: that is why God sends sor­row into the world.” Oscar Wilde

Our minds are equipped with all kinds of thoughts.  The ones that sprout and are man­i­fest­ed in our lives are the ones we water or give our atten­tion to.  I learned today that noth­ing exists with­out its oppo­site.  For instance, if we have a seed of arro­gance, we also have a seed of com­pas­sion.  And if we prac­tice mind­ful­ness of com­pas­sion every day (because every­thing is imper­ma­nent) the seed of com­pas­sion in us will become the dom­i­nant seed.  If we have a seed of love, we also have a seed of hate.  Prac­tice love dai­ly, give love all your ener­gy and atten­tion.  Nat­u­ral­ly, love will show up in your life and hate will dis­ap­pear.

What thoughts are you water­ing?  What’s hold­ing you back?  Come home to you.  “Make peace with your suf­fer­ing and look deeply at the roots of your pain.”

A cou­ple of years ago I had an anx­i­ety attack.  I was wor­ry­ing myself sick about the future.  I soon remem­bered that I am not in con­trol.  I remem­bered that I am to do my best today, for tomor­row isn’t promised.  I still get a lit­tle anx­ious about out­comes, but I’ve learned to use my con­cen­tra­tion to return to the present moment, which is all I have.

What are you anx­ious about?  What jeal­ousies and afflic­tions dom­i­nate your thoughts?

“I’ve had a lot of wor­ries in my life, most of which nev­er hap­pened.” Mark Twain

Don’t let your­self get car­ried away by the bad things that hap­pened in your past.  Instead, give thanks for the good things that are hap­pen­ing right now.  Go for a walk, and take in all the beau­ty that is around you.  Let the sun, or cool wind touch your cheeks.  When you eat your food, real­ly chew it, it’s not only good for your diges­tion and waist­line, but it’s also great for taste; and as you bite give thanks for the meal that is nour­ish­ing your body.  Qui­et your mind and lis­ten to the beat of your heart.  Pay atten­tion to your breath­ing, exhal­ing all neg­a­tiv­i­ty out.  Give your­self the oppor­tu­ni­ty to start over.

The moral of the sto­ry is that suf­fer­ing is inevitable and bad things hap­pen to good peo­ple.  Sim­pli­fy your life by let­ting go of expe­ri­ences and rela­tion­ships that don’t serve you well, keep­ing in mind that some­times we out­grow rela­tion­ships and that some friends are fair weath­er.  It is not up to you to fix any­one.  You are not a sav­ior; we already have one.

All things are imper­ma­nent and we tend to for­get, there­for prac­tice com­pas­sion and kind­ness dai­ly.  “We reap what we sow.” If we want love, we must give love, espe­cial­ly to our­selves.  We attract who we are.  Treat your­self with respect and love and the rest of the world will soon fol­low.  And the next time some­one wants to play cha­rades with your heart, have them ask you first.

Above all else, water the seed of hope.

“Hope is the thing with feath­ers that perch­es in the soul and sings the tune with the words and nev­er stops at all.” Emi­ly Dick­in­son