There is a place in everyone that yearns to love, that longs to be safe, that wants to treat others and ourselves with respect. Sometimes that place is buried underneath layers of fear, old wounds, cynicism, and pain that we have used to protect ourselves from injury.

Feel the places in your heart where you hold resentment and touch them with kindness and forgiveness, and see if it is time to let go. Then, to the extent that you can at this time, extend forgiveness to those who have hurt or harmed you- knowingly or unknowingly- in thought, word, or deed.

~Jack Kornfield

when the water begins to seep into tears….

inquiry for today~ remember you cannot know what you hold until you feel

spilling over

To take hold of our minds and calm our thoughts, we must also practice mindfulness of our feelings and perceptions. To take hold of your mind, you must practice mindfulness of the mind. You must know how to observe and recognize the presence of every feeling and thought which arises in you. The Zen Master Thuong Chieu wrote, “If the practitioner knows his own mind clearly he will obtain results with little effort.”

Breath remains the vehicle to unite body and mind and to open the gate to wisdom. The intention isn’t to chase it away, hate it, worry about it, or be frightened by it. So what exactly should you be doing concerning such thoughts and feelings? Simply acknowledge their presence. The essential thing is not to let any feeling or thought arise without recognizing it in mindfulness, like a palace guard who is aware of every face that passes through the front corridor.

~Thich Naht Hanh