"A Heart as Wide as The World"

Living with Mindfulness,
Wisdom, and Compassion
by Sharon Salzberg

Publisher Comments:
The Buddhist teachings have the power to transform our lives for the better, says Sharon Salzberg, and all we need to bring about this transformation can be found in the ordinary events of our everyday experiences. Salzberg distills more than twenty-five years of teaching and practicing meditation into a series of short essays, rich with anecdotes and personal revelations, that offer genuine aid and comfort for anyone on the spiritual path. Many chance moments, both small and profound, serve as the basis for Salzberg's teachings: hearing a market stall hawker calling "I have what you need "; noting hotel guests' reactions to a midnight fire alarm; watching her teacher, Dipa Ma, bless a belligerent dog; seeing the Dalai Lama laughing uproariously at his own mistake. Each passing moment, Salzberg shows, can help us down the path toward "a seamlessness of connection and an unbounded heart."

Meaningful Quotes:

"It is compassion that removes the heavy bar, opens the door to freedom, makes the narrow heart as wide as the world." Nyanaponika Thera

"I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. I may not even complete the last one, but I give myself to it." Rilke

"How long will we fill our pockets like children with dirt and stones? Let the world go. Holding it, we never know ourselves, never are airborne." Rumi

Sadly, we basically overlook and discredit the power of our own great potential. We forget who we truly are.

"The Buddha's enlightenment solved Buddha's problem, now you solve yours." Munindra

...a revelation of practice as the movement toward fully experiencing the ordinary, rather than grasping after the seemingly extraordinary.

It is in the ordinary mind that we find our Buddha nature, when we stop trying to have something special happen.

Being a beginner means having a freshness of view and an unguarded openness to experience.

"Renounce and enjoy." Gandhi

We renounce that which is inessential, and relaxing into stillness, we become fully focused on the present moment.

...we are all capable of tremendous love, but until we untangle our conditioning, our capacity for connection remains hidden or distorted.

Because compassion is a state of mind that is itself open, abundant, and inclusive, it allows us to meet pain more directly.

Love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity do not distort our ability to see clearly...

Trying to avoid looking at the natural flow of life is fearful, tiring work.

Mindfulness is a quality of awareness that sees directly at whatever is happening in our experience and meets it face to face, without the intrusion of bias, without adding such forces as grasping, aversion, or delusion to the experience.

Restlessness often comes from a desire to control that which is inherently uncontrollable.

Through meditation practice we learn to enter into silence, and there the fruits of the practice reveal themselves: wisdom which is seeing deeply into the true nature of life, and compassion, the trembling of the heart in response to suffering. Wisdom reveals that we are all part of a whole, and compassion tells us that we can never stand apart. Through this prism we see life with openness, knowing our oneness. We find wisdom and compassion coming to life, transforming how we understand ourselves and how we understand our world.

"If you are looking for something that is everywhere, you don't need to travel to get there; you need love." Saint Augustine

We practice meditation because, rather than grasping for what we do not have, on trying to futilely to hold on to what is changing, we can instead settle into the moment and know the refuge of letting go. We practice meditation so as not to waste our precious lives.

"Life's breath is like a water bubble." Kalu Rinpoche

Only love is big enough to hold all the pain in this world.

If we have the ability to remain balanced in the face of unpleasantness, if we can remain mindful, then every moment, including our last ones, may be filled with the peace that we yearn for.

In relating to our life, we have a fundamental choice/ we can be cognizant of and accepting of this ephemeral, fleeting world, or we can cling to a mistaken notion of solidity, of inherent permanent categories. But if we deny the insubstantiality of things, we miss the living, flowing nature of the universe.

"Compassion is a verb." Thich Nhat Hanh

Compassion is nourished by the wisdom of our interconnectedness... Wisdom of our interconnectedness arises hand in hand with learning to truly love ourselves.

Meditation practice brings our latent wisdom and compassion to life.

For in our intention lies the power of our minds, and the possibility of essential change.

Joyful compassion comes from knowing the wonderful capacity of the human heart to connect, and wishing that more of us felt connected to each other.

"The Dharma doesn't suffer from comparison." Munindra

We can be truly fearless only when, with a spacious and compassionate heart, we are profoundly in touch with our innermost fear; when we are mindful of it, are not hating ourselves for the fear, and are not being ruled by it.

True patience is constancy - the consistent willingness to use this moment of reality as a vehicle for wisdom and compassion.

"In meditation practice, time is not a factor. It is not something that is relevant in the process. Practice is timeless." Munindra

There is magic in wonderment, in making a friend of silence, in the space between breaths, in finding the beautiful gift of connectedness.

A Heart as Wide as the World available at Powells and Amazon

Other Books by Susan Salzberg:
Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience
The Force of Kindness
Insight Meditation: Correspondence Course
Insight Meditation Kit: A Step-By-Step Course
Lovingkindness Meditation
Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness
Voices of Insight

"Three Cups of Tea"

One Man's Mission
to Promote Peace...
One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson
& David Oliver Relin

After a friend heard Greg Mortenson speak at our local library, she contacted me because I'm always on the look out for good books, especially about travel. Now, after reading the book, I wish I could have heard him speak. He is an inspiration.

Book Description:

In 'Three Cups of Tea' Greg Mortenson, and acclaimed journalist David Oliver Relin, recount the unlikely journey that led Mortenson from a failed attempt to climb Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain, to successfully building schools in some of the most remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. By replacing guns with pencils, rhetoric with reading, Mortenson combines his unique background with his intimate knowledge of the third-world to fight terrorism with books, not bombs, and successfully bring education and hope to remote villages in central Asia. 'Three Cups of Tea' is at once an unforgettable adventure and the inspiring true story of how one man really is changing the world—one school at a time.

In 1993 Mortenson was descending from his failed attempt to reach the peak of K2. Exhausted and disoriented, he wandered away from his group into the most desolate reaches of northern Pakistan. Alone, without food, water, or shelter he eventually stumbled into an impoverished Pakistani village where he was nursed back to health.

While recovering he observed the village’s 84 children sitting outdoors, scratching their lessons in the dirt with sticks. The village was so poor that it could not afford the $1-a-day salary to hire a teacher. When he left the village, he promised that he would return to build them a school.

From that rash, heartfelt promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time: Greg Mortenson’s one-man mission to counteract extremism and terrorism by building schools—especially for girls—throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban.

Mortenson had no reason to believe he could fulfill his promise. In an early effort to raise money he wrote letters to 580 celebrities, businessmen, and other prominent Americans. His only reply was a $100 check from NBC’s Tom Brokaw. Selling everything he owned, he still only raised $2,000. But his luck began to change when a group of elementary school children in River Falls, Wisconsin, donated $623 in pennies, thereby inspiring adults to take his cause more seriously. Twelve years later he’s built fifty-five schools.

Mortenson and award-winning journalist David Oliver Relin have written a spellbinding account of his incredible accomplishments in a region where Americans are feared and hated. In pursuit of his goal, Mortenson has survived an armed kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, repeated death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and children. Yet his success speaks for itself. This year the schools will educate 24,000 children.

My Book Review:
If I could, I would nominate Greg Mortenson for the Nobel Peace Prize. To me, he has accomplished so much to combat extremism in some of the most dangerous parts of the world—simply by building schools. And all by himself. He shows what one man can do, taking simple steps that can change night to day in the minds of young children in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

This book takes you from the first days of how this 'idea' came to be, to build schools for the poorest of the poor in rural Pakistan. It shows how much he learned from those he was so determined to help. 'Three Cups of Tea' should be on every reading list for organizations that do humanitarian work anywhere in the world, to show how to effectively help people in different cultures. Greg had a few hard learned lessons, but in the end, his greatest teachers were the illiterate men whose children and grandchildren finally had an opportunity at an education with the schools they built together. He shows that when you truly ask the people what they need, those same people will defend the projects with their hearts and lives if need be.

I can't say enough about Greg Mortenson and his work. His story is both heart-wrenching and heart-warming. Read this book, it might just change your life and how you view the current world we live in.

Three Cups of Tea
part of purchase price is donated to CAI

Central Asia Institute
To promote and provide community-based education
and literacy programs, especially for girls,
in remote mountain regions of Central Asia

Pennies for Peace
Pennies for Peace educates American children
about the world beyond their experience
and shows them that they can make a positive impact
on a global scale, one penny at a time.

Greg Mortenson's blog

"Along the Templar Trail"

Two Men.
Two Continents.
One Quest.
by Brandon Wilson

Book Description:

Walking in the nearly forgotten footsteps of the legendary first Knights Templar, an American and a 68-year old Frenchman embark on a mission all their own. Traveling simply and trusting in the kindness of strangers, they set off to carry a message of peace along a route historically used for war. Their incredible journey leads them thousands of miles across eleven countries and two continents toward Jerusalem. After the outbreak of war, everything is uncertain - except for their steadfast and perhaps life-threatening resolve. ALONG THE TEMPLAR TRAIL weaves a richly detailed Chaucerian tapestry of characters, intrigue, and adventure with personal growth and social commentary. Their poignant tale is a powerful testimony to the courage of the human spirit and an affirmation of the dream of peace still very much alive in the world today. It also provides a signpost for those who dream of making a similar journey along this trail; one destined to become a path of peace for people of all nations, cultures and faiths.

My Book Review:
Brandon is a friend of mine, but we've never met. You could say we are more like family, brothers of the road. We both explore this world we live in and the world inside of us. It is something of a shock to us, how the world's civilizations can be so at odds with each other because when we travel, we seem only to find open hearts despite differences.

It is with this in mind, that Brandon decided, with a fellow 'pilgrim' Emile, to walk from Dijon France to Jerusalem for Peace. And I write that with a capital 'P'. While both are experienced travelers, this was not an easy undertaking. Besides language barriers, they had almost no reliable information on the safest routes or possible accommodations. The road was long, and usually dangerous to anyone on foot. Their path took them 3000 miles in 6 months.

But despite all the aching muscles, near-death collisions with speeding trucks, and more rain than the earth could need, Brandon still is able to share through his words the beauty of the landscape they walk through, the grandeur of the history, and probably most of all, the wonderful people who, despite having little 'riches', opened their hearts and homes to these weary travelers. Everywhere Brandon walked, the message was perfectly clear from the 'average' man, "We want peace!" Now, in only governments could see that.

It was a long trip and Brandon has tried to bring the reader on that journey, complete with all the bad and the good, including heightened worry as war escalated in the Mideast. But it is with a kind of joy that everyone, Brandon and his readers, finally reach Jerusalem. But Brandon sees it only as stop along the path. We must keep moving toward peace, we must. And here I quote:

"We are all pilgrims, each on their own path, each with their own story to tell. Walking is only a first step, but one we each can take to discover the peace within. In that way, eventually, war will become unconscionable. Darkness will be dispelled with light--one person, one step at a time."

"Along the Templar Trail" available at Powells and Amazon

Other books by Brandon Wilson:
Yak Butter Blues
Dead Men Don't Leave Tips

"The Ivory and the Horn"

by Charles de Lint

Book Description
(Science Fiction)
In the city of Newford, when the stars and the vibes are right, you can touch magic. Mermaids sing in the murky harbor, desert spirits crowd the night, and dreams are more real than waking.Charles de Lint began his chronicles of the extraordinary city of Newford in Memory amp; Dream and the short-story collection Dreams Underfoot. In The Ivory and the Horn, this uncommonly gifted craftsman weaves a new tapestry of stark realism and fond hope, mean streets and boulevards of dreams, where you will rediscover the power of love and longing, of wishes and desires, and of the magic that hovers at the edge of everyday life.

Memorable Quotes:

“...the bottom line is I believe I can make a difference. Not a big one. What I do is just a small ripple, but I know it helps. And if enough little people like me make our little differences, one day we're going to wake up to find we really did manage to change the world.”

“If enough people think positively, take positive action, then it snowballs all of its own accord and the world can't help but get a little better.”

“My people have a word to describe the moment when all is in harmony – we call it Beauty. But Beauty can find no foothold in despair. If we mean to reclaim our Mother Earth from the ills that plague her, we must not forget our own children. We must work on many levels, walk many wheels, that lives may be spared – the lives of people, and the lives of all those other species with whom we share the world. Our contributions, no matter how small they might appear, carry and equal importance, for they will all contribute to the harmony that allows the world to walk the wheel of Beauty.”

“...hold onto your feelings of foolishness. Wisdom never comes to those who believe they have nothing left to learn.”

“Free your heart from your mind. Embrace wonder for one moment without the need to consider how that wonder came to be, without the need to justify if it be real or not.”

“The right brain belongs to the artist and its mostly a stranger because we don't call on it ver often. In the general course of our lives, we don't need to. But fey though it is, this stranger inside us is the one that keeps us sane. It's the one that imparts meaning to what we do, that allows us to see beyond the drone of the everyday.”

“What gets me is how everybody's looking to make sense of things. Sometimes you don't want sense. Sometimes, the last thing in the world you need is sense. Work a thing through till it makes sense and you lose all the possibilities.”

“It's as though we stand in the dark of the moon and anything is possible. We're hidden from the sun's light, from anything that might try to remind us that we only borrow these lives we live, we don't own them.”

“Life's like art. You have to work hard to keep in simple and still have meaning. It's so much easier just to deal with everything in how it relates to yourself. You have to really concentrate to keep an open mind, to pay attention to the broader view, to stay aware of what's going on outside your own skin.”

"The Ivory and the Horn" available at Powells and Amazon

Other books by Charles de Lint:
Little (Grrl) Lost
Wolf Moon
Widdershins
Memory and Dream
The Blue Girl
Dreams Underfoot
Forests of the Heart
Moonheart
Someplace to Be Flying
The Harp of the Grey Rose
Promises to Keep: A Novel
Tapping the Dream Tree
Waifs and Strays
The Onion Girl
The Riddle of the Wren
Moonlight & Vines
The Little Country Trader

"Loving What Is"

Four Questions
That Can Change Your Life
by Byron Katie

Book Review:

I the last six years, I have read a lot of books on Buddhism, spirituality, and self-help. But I think this book has given me the best and most practical way of dealing with the world compared to everything I've read. It's so simple, yet so profound. I have to give Loving What Is my highest recommendations.

Book Description:

In the midst of a normal life, Katie became increasingly depressed, and over a ten-year period sank further into rage, despair, and thoughts of suicide. Then one morning, she woke up in a state of absolute joy, filled with the realization of how her own suffering had ended. The freedom of that realization has never left her, and now in Loving What Is you can discover the same freedom through The Work. The Work is simply four questions that, when applied to a specific problem, enable you to see what is troubling you in an entirely different light. As Katie says, 'It's not the problem that causes our suffering; it's our thinking about the problem.' Contrary to popular belief, trying to let go of a painful thought never works; instead, once we have done The Work, the thought lets go of us. At that point, we can truly love what is, just as it is. Loving What Is offers everything you need to learn and live this remarkable process, and to find happiness as what Katie calls 'a lover of reality.'

Memorable Quotes:

“Step aside from all thinking and there is nowhere you can't go.”

Seng-ts'an

I am a lover of what is, not because I'm a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality. We can know that reality is good just as it is, because when we argue with it, we experience tension and frustration. We don't feel natural or balanced. When we stop opposing reality, action becomes simple, fluid, kind, and fearless.

If you are living your life and I am mentally living your life, who is here living mine? We're both over there. Being mentally in your business keeps me from being present in my own. I am separate from myself, wondering why my life doesn't work.

Eventually you come to see that everything outside you is a reflection of your own thinking. You are the storyteller, the projector of all stories, and the world is the projected image of your thoughts.

When you're operating on uninvestigated theories of what's going on and you aren't even aware of it, you're in what I call “the dream.”

A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It is not our thoughts, but the attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it's true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we've been attaching to, often for years.

It is easy to be swept away by some overwhelming feeling, so it's helpful to remember that any stressful feeling is like a compassionate alarm clock that says, “You're caught in the dream.” Depression, pain, and fear are gifts that say, “Sweetheart, take a look at your thinking right now. You're living in a story that isn't true for you.”

Inquiry: The Four Questions & Turnaround
1.Is it true?
2.Can you absolutely know that it's true?
3.How do you react when you think that way?
4.Who would you be without the thought?
and Turn it around.

There's nothing more exciting than discovering the don't-know mind.

Everyone is a mirror image of yourself—your own thinking coming back at you.

I realized that I could be right, or I could be free.

It makes sense that no one else can cause your pain. That's your job.

None of us would ever hurt another human being if we weren't confused. Confusion is the only suffering on this planet.

Reality is always kinder than the stories we tell about it.

Reality...is what is true. The truth is whatever is in front of you, whatever is really happening.

Without our stories, we are not only able to act clearly and fearlessly; we are also the friend, the listener. We are people living happy lives. We are appreciation and gratitude that have become as natural as breath itself. Happiness is the natural state for someone who knows that there's nothing to know and that we already have everything we need, right here now.

The goal of inquiry is to bring us back to our right mind, so we can realize for ourselves that we live in paradise and haven't even noticed.

Without a story, without an enemy, action is spontaneous, clear, and infinitely kind.

If you really want to know the truth, allow the truth to reveal itself to you.

The getting, the receiving, is experienced in the moment you give something away. The transaction is complete. That's it.

...life is a very nice place to be, once you understand it. Nothing ever goes wrong in life. Life is heaven, except for our attachment to a story that we haven't investigated.

Humility is the true resting place.

The stress and weariness you feel are really mental combat fatigue.

The only future you want is peace and happiness. Rich or poor—who cares, when we're secure in our happiness? This is true freedom: a mind that is no longer deceived by itself.

The world is as you perceive it to be. For me, clarity is a word for beauty. It's what I am. And when I'm clear, I see only beauty. Nothing else is possible. Nothing else is possible. I am mind perceiving my thoughts, and everything unfolds from that, as if it were a new solar system pouring itself out in its delight. If I'm not clear, then I'm going to project all my craziness out onto the world, as the world, and I'll perceive a crazy world and think that is the problem. ...when you meet your thoughts with understanding, the world changes. It has to change, because the projector of the entire world is you. You're it.

We are really alive when we live as simply as that—open, waiting, trusting, and loving to do what appears in front of us now.

The truth sets us free, and freedom acts.

When I argue with reality, I lose—but only 100 percent of the time.

There is no thought or situation that you can't put up against inquiry. Every thought, every person, every apparent problem is her for the sake of your freedom. When you experience anything as separate or unacceptable, inquiry can bring you back to the peace you felt before you believed that thought.

Until you can see everything in the world as your friend, your Work is not done.

Nothing outside you can ever give you what you're looking for.

We've been attempting to heal bodies for thousands of years, and they still get sick and old, and they die. Bodies come to pass, not to stay. No body has ever been healed ultimately. There is only the mind to heal if it's peace you want, whether you're sick or well.

The bottom line is that I just can't know anything. I watch the way things are in reality. This leaves me in a position to act sanely and lovingly, and life is always perfectly beautiful.

Everything happens for me, not to me.

Nothing terrible has ever happened except in our thinking. Reality is always good, even in situations that seem like nightmares. The story we tell is the only nightmare that we have lived.

I love reality, not the way a fantasy would dictate, but just the way it is, right now.

We're all looking for love, in our confusion, until we find our way back to the realization that love is what we already are. That's all. We're looking for what we already have. We're guilty of seeking love, that's all. Always looking for what we already have. It's a very painful search.

I am very clear that the whole world loves me. I just don't expect them to realize it yet.

I'm a lover of reality, not because I'm a spiritual woman, but because it hurts when I argue with what is. And I notice that I lose, 100 percent of the time. It's hopeless. We take these concepts to the grave with us, if they're not examined. Concepts are the grave we bury ourselves in.

Reality rules. It doesn't wait for our vote, our permission, or our opinion—have you noticed? What I love most about reality is that it's always the story of a past. And what I love most about the past is that it's over. And because I'm no longer insane, I don't argue with it. Arguing with it feels unkind inside me. Just to notice what is love. That's reality. It hurts to fight what is. And doesn't it feel more honest to open your arms wide to it?

In the fall, you don't grieve because the leaves are falling and dying. You say, "Isn't it beautiful!" Well, we're the same way. There are seasons. We all fall sooner or later. It's all so beautiful. And our concepts, without investigation, keep us from knowing this. It's beautiful to be a leaf, to be born, to fall, to give way to the next, to become food for the roots. It's life, always changing its form and always giving itself completely. We all do our part. No mistake.

There is not mistake in nature. Look how painful it is to have a story that won't embrace such beauty, such perfection. Lack of understanding is always painful.

Through self-inquiry, we see that only love remains. Without an uninvestigated story, there's only the perfection of life appearing as itself. You can always go inside and find the beauty that's revealed after the pain and fear are understood.

Nothing lives but a story, and when we meet these stories with understanding, we really begin to live, without the suffering.

Inquiry doesn't have a motive. It doesn't teach a philosophy. It's just investigation.

A teacher of fear can't bring peace on earth. We have been trying to do it that way for thousands of years. The person who turns inner violence around, the person who finds peace inside and lives it, is the one who teaches what true peace is. We are waiting for just one teacher. You're the one.

When you run in fear, it's square into the wall. Then you look back at where you were, and you see that it was much safer. You can find everything you need to know right where you are.

...fear isn't so efficient. Fear is blind and deaf.

You move totally away from reality when you believe that there is a legitimate reason to suffer.

Suffering is caused by attachment to a deeply embedded belief. It's a state of blind attachment to something that you think is true. In this state, it's very difficult to do the Work for the love of truth, because you're invested in your story. Your story is your identity, and you'd do almost anything to prove it's true. Inquiry into self is the only thing that has the power to penetrate such ancient concepts.

I can't meet you as an enemy and not feel separate, from you and from myself. So how could I meet a thought within me as an enemy and not feel separate? When I learned to meet my thinking as a friend, I noticed that I could meet every human as a friend. What could you say that hasn't already appeared within me as a thought? The end of the war with myself and my thinking is the end of war with you. It's so simple.

Inquiry appears to be a process of thinking, but actually it's a way to undo thinking. Thoughts lose their power over us when we realize that we are doing the thinking anyway. Thoughts simple appear in the mind.

Experience is just perception. It's ever-changing. Even "now" is the story of the past.

"Don't be spiritual—be honest instead." What I mean is that it's very painful to pretend yourself beyond your own evolution, to live a lie, any lie. When you act like a teacher, it's usually because you're afraid to be the student. I don't pretend to be fearless. I either am or I'm not. It's no secret to me.

Accepting reality doesn't mean that you're going to be passive. Why would you be passive when you can be clear and have a wonderful, sane life? Accepting reality means, in fact, that you can act in the kindest, most appropriate, and most effective way.

Without the story, I have everything I need. I'm complete...

The world is your perception of it. Inside and outside always match—they are reflections of each other. The world is the mirror image of your mind. If you experience chaos and confusion inside, your external world has to reflect that. You have to see what you believe, because you are the confused thinking looking out and seeing yourself. You are the interpreter of everything, and if your chaotic, what you hear and see has to be chaos. Even if Jesus, even if the Buddha, were standing in front of you, you would hear confused words, because confusion would be the listener. You would only hear what you thought he was saying, and you'd start arguing with him the first time your story was threatened.

...love is kind; it doesn't stand still and do nothing when it sees its own need.

I don't need stress to do what I know to do; that's not efficient, the way peace and sanity are. Love is action, and in my experience, reality is always kind.

Do you really want to know the truth? All suffering begins and ends with you.

All so-called truths eventually fall away. Every truth is a distortion of what is. If we investigate, we loose even the last truth. And that state, beyond all truths, is true intimacy.

People talk about self-realization, and this is it! Can you just breathe in and out happily? Who cares about enlightenment when your happy right now? Just enlighten yourself to this moment. Can you just do that? And then, eventually, it all collapses. The mind merges with the heart and comes to see that it's not separate. It finds a home, and it rests in itself, as itself. Until the story is met with understanding, there is no peace.

Inquiry naturally gives rise to action that is clear, kind, and fearless.

You become the wise teacher as you become a student of yourself. It stops mattering if anyone else hears you, because you're listening. You are the wisdom you offer us, breathing and walking and effortlessly moving on, as you make your business deal, buy your groceries, or do the dishes.

There is no peace in the world until you find peace within yourself in this moment. Live these turnarounds, if you want to be free. That's what Jesus did, what the Buddha did. That's what all the famous great ones did, and all the unknown great ones who are just living it in their homes and communities, happily and in peace.

So I invite you to look at the nightmares that you've suffered through and survived, and to see that freedom really is possible in your everyday life. Your story is the only thing that's painful, and life has to mirror back to you what you believe is true. There's no exception to that.

I love that I'm free to walk in the world without fear, sadness, or anger, ready to meet anything or anyone, in any place, at any time, with arms and heart wide open. Life will show me what I haven't undone yet. I look forward to it, and I look forward to see you walk with me.

Loving What Is available at Powells & Amazon