What if loneliness was simply a feeling of impatience, telepathically sent to you by friends you've yet to meet, urging you to go out more, do more, and get involved, so that life's serendipities could bring you together... Would you still feel alone?

What if illness was just the signal a healthy body sent to urge clarification of your thoughts, feelings, and dreams... Would you still, at times, think of yours as diseased?

What if feelings of uncertainty and confusion were only reminders that you have options, that there's no hurry, and that everything is as it should be... Would you still feel disadvantaged?

What if mistakes and failures only ever happened when your life was about to get better than it's ever been before... Would you still call them mistakes and failures?

And what if poverty and lack were simply demonstrations of your manifesting prowess, as "difficult" to acquire as wealth and abundance... Would they still cause you to feel powerless?

Well, whatever you feel, I still consider you my only begotten, my champion, and my equal.

Are we close, or what?
    The Universe

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There is no ultimate goal in meditation. Meditation is an acceptance of the mind, however it comes to you. And the mind changes all the time, just as the ocean waves change. Sometimes the water is turbulent, sometimes calm. Thoughts rise and then disappear; you don’t grab hold of them. The heart beats, the lungs breathe, and the mind continues to produce thoughts. Even if you’ve practiced for a long time, it will still produce thoughts, but you’re no longer thrown by them. You don’t have control of your mind; it goes where it wants to go. But with practice, you can have a relationship with it. ~ Natalie Goldberg

I must confess that I still do not completely understand mindfulness. It is somewhat heavy and abstract, and for someone like myself, who considers himself forever mired in the stage of concrete operations, that can be a challenge. But there are things about mindfulness that I now better understand and appreciate. I understand that mindfulness is, quite simply, a way of being present for my patients and for myself. I also understand that mindfulness is a discipline. It is a way of thinking (or perhaps more accurately, a way of being), and, like any discipline or new approach, it requires training and ongoing practice. It is not as simple as a sip of wine in the evening, which may serve to dissipate the tension that has built during the day. It is better; it is a disciplined, practiced approach that enables us to deal with tension as it arises.

And now, armed with this better understanding of mindfulness, I try to incorporate it into my practice and into my own life. I also try to impart its value to our trainees, whose own stresses may be different, but are considerable. I explain to them my initial skepticism, and how even though on the surface, it might seem that it is just one more thing they have to do, it may help them cope with all those other things that overwhelm them. Somehow, as I tell them, it works. It helps me keep the focus on my patients, it helps keep the satisfaction in my work, it helps me to rejuvenate, and it keeps me sane. ~ David N. Korones

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you is a commandment found in multiple belief systems. Since we are all part of the human family it only makes good sense to understand that people blossom when treated respectfully and die on the vine when treated with disrespect. Being human places everyone on an equal footing with everyone else. No one is more or less deserving of fair and equal treatment.

Give it a try right now. Thank the waitress sincerely for delivering your lunch, allow the driver in a hurry to pass you easily without resistance, accept the cleanup assignment for the hospitality you extended to guests with grace rather than with complaint, and go the extra mile to indicate that you are always willing to do more than you are paid to do because it is part of your work ethic to give more than expected. Sooner or later you will be recognized for your strong contribution and people will realize that you are worthy of good treatment yourself. ~ Judy Williamson

This describes a mind that's open and receptive. A mind that's not limited by agendas, roles and expectations. The great Zen teacher Suzuki Roshi, was fond of saying, "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few."

From this vantage point we realize that “not knowing is most intimate.” Understanding this we stay very close to the experience allowing the situation itself to inform our actions. We listen carefully to our own inner voice, sensing our urges, trusting our intuition. We learn to look with fresh eyes. ~  Frank Ostaseski

We often think of rest as something that will come when everything else is complete, like when we go on a holiday or when our work is done. We imagine that we can only find rest by changing the conditions of our life. But it is possible to discover rest right in the middle of chaos. It is experienced when we bring our full attention, without distraction, to this moment, to this activity. This place of rest is always available. We need only turn toward it. It's an aspect of us that's never sick, is not born, and does not die. ~ Frank Ostaseski

Patience is different than waiting. When we wait, we are full of expectations. When we're waiting, we miss what this moment has to offer. Worrying or strategizing about what the future holds for us, we miss the opportunities that are right in front of us. Waiting for the moment of death, we miss so many moments of living. Don't wait. If there's someone you love, tell him or her that you love them. Allow the precarious nature of this life to show you what's most important then enter fully. ~ Frank Ostaseski

In the process of healing others and ourselves we open to both our joy and fear. In the service of this healing we draw on our strength and helplessness, our wounds and passion to discover a meeting place with the other. Professional warmth doesn't heal. It is not our expertise but the exploration of our own suffering that enables us to be of real assistance. That's what allows us to touch another human being's pain with compassion instead of with fear and pity. We have to invite it all in. We can't travel with others in territory that we haven't explored ourselves. It is the exploration of our own inner life that enables us to form an empathetic bridge to the other person. ~ Frank Ostaseski

In welcoming everything, we don't have to like what's arising. It's actually not our job to approve or disapprove. It's our task to trust, to listen, and to pay careful attention to the changing experience. At the deepest level, we are being asked to cultivate a kind of fearless receptivity.

This is a journey of continuous discovery in which we will always be entering new territory. We have no idea how it will turn out, and it takes courage and flexibility. We find a balance. The journey is a mystery we need to live into, opening, risking, and forgiving constantly. ~ Frank Ostaseski

Not all societies are as death-denying as ours. All indigenous, pre-industrial, pre-capitalist cultures not only venerate the aged, they consciously cultivate a life-affirming death awareness. In Vietnam, the bones of the deceased are buried in the fields so that they will fertilize the rice that feeds their families and, thus, it is believed there is physical and spiritual continuity and the children inherit the strength of their ancestors.

In Mexico you can see death all around you as part of everyday life: Souvenir shops display miniature skeletons dancing and playing instruments and chocolate candies shaped like skeletons. On All Saints Day—what we in the U.S. have commercialized into Halloween trick or treating—families load up on wine, bread, cheese and camp out on their loved one’s graves, singing, reminiscing, and celebrating. All these customs demonstrate that part of life is rehearsing for old age and death, welcoming it with open arms, humor and respect.

Death is a democratic inevitability for every one of us. In my opinion, there’s something worse than death and that is never having fully lived. We can choose to sink into age, denying, resisting, protesting, thus missing the fruits of wholeness. Or we can be liberated to live a full and vibrant life by choosing to grow into age, accepting, letting go, embracing the emptiness with humility. ~ Jane Fonda