“I believe everything that happens is God’s will. My problem is reconciling a good and loving God with all the horrible things that happen. Can you help me make sense of this?”

Yes: Stop insisting God is good and loving. I too believe that everything that happens is God’s will, but I don’t believe that God is good or loving or that God wills freely. God is Reality, the Happening happening as all happening. God’s Will is that everything happens because the conditions for it happening are such that it must happen. God’s will doesn’t make things happen. God’s will is what happens. When you know that all happening is God and God’s will, you are free from the distraction. Why did God will this to happen? and free for engaging with what happened. When a tragedy happens, don’t as Why?, ask, What can I do to alleviate the suffering happening with this tragedy?

~Rabbi Rami Shapiro

how can I become quiet enough to know God?

inquiry for today~ free will?

your best knowing

Regardless of how compassionate you tend to be, your yoga practice is likely to help bolster it. “One of the things that happens with yoga is we focus on the movement of our breath, and we get out of our heads, says Kristin Neff. “For a moment, we leave behind the storyline of our lives and what’s wrong with us. We use our bodies with intention and care and can actually be present with ourselves in a tender way. That’s self-compassion.”
After all, when you’re hypercritical of yourself, it’s easier to judge others. “If I’m not taking care of myself, then my relationships with others are a possible resentment waiting to happen,” says Aruni Nan Futuronsky, a life coach and senior faculty Member at the Kripalu Center for Yoga snd Health. “Self-compassion is the earth into which the seeds of change can be planted. Trying to change through force, will, and who only work to a point. Through compassion, something greater than ourselves comes forth. We have a partner in life- call it grace, call it a higher power, call it the wisdom of the body. We’re not alone. And change becomes sustainable.”

~ Amanda Tust