If you can, do a gratitude practice: Each day write down three things you're grateful for. There are different ways to do this. You can have a gratitude buddy, someone with whom, at the end of the day, you exchange messages listing these three things you are grateful for. Also, you can journal it or reflect on it silently.

Tara Brach

Categorized in : Writing Grateful Gratitude

Imagine you are walking in the woods and you see a small dog sitting by a tree. As you approach it, it suddenly lunges at you, teeth bared. You are frightened and angry. But then you notice that one of its legs is caught in a trap. Immediately your mood shifts from anger to concern: You see that the dog's aggression is coming from a place of vulnerability and pain. This applies to all of us. When we behave in hurtful ways, it is because we are caught in some kind of trap. The more we look through the eyes of wisdom at ourselves and one another, the more we cultivate a compassionate heart.

Happiness lies not in finding what is missing, by Tara Brach

Happiness lies not in finding what is missing,

findings missing lying

Most of us need to be reminded that we are good, that we are lovable, that we belong. If we knew just how powerfully our thoughts, words, and actions affected the hearts of those around us, we'd reach out and join hands again and again. Our relationships have the potential to be a sacred refuge, a place of healing and awakening. With each person we meet, we can learn to look behind the mask and see the one who longs to love and be loved.

healing heart hands

Mindfulness is a pause - the space between stimulus and response:... by Tara Brach

Mindfulness is a pause - the space between stimulus and response: that's where choice lies.

space choices lying

There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life.

messy saying-yes imperfect

We wait for things to be different in order to feel okay with life. As long as we keep attaching our happiness to the external events of our lives, which are ever changing, we’ll always be left waiting for it.

waiting order long

Stopping the endless pursuit of getting somewhere else is the perhaps most beautiful offering we can make to our spirit.

offering somewhere-else beautiful

I recently read in the book My Stroke of Insight by brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor that the natural life span of an emotion—the average time it takes for it to move through the nervous system and body—is only a minute and a half. After that we need thoughts to keep the emotion rolling. So if we wonder why we lock into painful emotional states like anxiety, depression, or rage, we need look no further than our own endless stream of inner dialogue.

emotional book moving

You can think of spiritual practice as a kind of spiritual re-parenting ... You're offering yourself the two qualities that make up good parenting: understanding - seeing yourself for who you truly are - and relating to what you see with unconditional love.

unconditional-love spiritual thinking

There are some things we can't choose, but in being present we can choose how we want to relate to them

The emotion of fear often works overtime. Even when there is no immediate threat, our body may remain tight and on guard, our mind narrowed to focus on what might go wrong. When this happens, fear is no longer functioning to secure our survival. We are caught in the trance of fear and our moment-to-moment experience becomes bound in reactivity. We spend our time and energy defending our life rather than living it fully.

survival focus mind

Feeling compassion for ourselves in no way releases us from responsibility for our actions. Rather, it releases us from the self-hatred that prevents us from responding to our life with clarity and balance.

compassion responsibility self

The most powerful healing arises from the simple intention to love the life within you, unconditionally, with as much tenderness and presence as possible.

powerful simple healing

Paying attention is the most basic and profound expression of lov... by Tara Brach

Paying attention is the most basic and profound expression of love.

expression attention profound

Sometimes the easiest way to appreciate ourselves is by looking through the eyes of someone who loves us.

appreciate eye way

With mindfulness training we are able to recognize when we get lost in our mental dramas, and bring a kind and nonreactive presence to the feelings that accompany them.

training feelings drama

Imperfection is not our personal problem - it is a natural part o... by Tara Brach

Imperfection is not our personal problem - it is a natural part of existing.

imperfection problem natural

When we relax about imperfection, we no longer lose our life moments in the pursuit of being different and in the fear of what is wrong.

being-different imperfection relax

The boundary to what we can accept is the boundary to our freedom... by Tara Brach

The boundary to what we can accept is the boundary to our freedom.

accepting acceptance boundaries

Compassion can be described as letting ourselves be touched by the vulnerability and suffering that is within ourselves and all beings. The full flowering of compassion also includes action: Not only do we attune to the presence of suffering, we respond to it.

compassion suffering action