Not even for a moment 

Do things stand still -witness

color in the trees.

-Seiju

we celebrate the sliver of kindness that brings in the light….

inquiry for today~ remember how courageous it is to rebirth

living for the dawn

The willingness to sit with fear is an act of courage.

• For Tracy, it is being torn apart by both grief and love as she sits bedside with her dying mother while holding her newborn son.

• For Jackson, it is going into a maximum-security prison to sit face-to-face with the man who murdered his mother.

• For Terry, it is allowing his body to tremble and shake for three days while the contractions of old sexual traumas are released during a meditation retreat.

Courage is the heart’s answer when fear speaks. The old Buddhist texts refer to “the great and courageous bodhisattvas.” These are beings who, have the fortitude to stand with suffering that might bring the rest of us to our knees. It’s not that such people have no fear. Rather, they are able to maintain a courageous presence while they are afraid. They open to fear and are willing to hold it, learn from it, and be transformed by it.

In this way, fear serves as a catalyst, a doorway to compassion, and a pathway to transformation. Ordinary people put courageous presence into practice in small, beautiful ways every single day.

Please, when you recognize it in yourself or in others, acknowledge and honor it.

~Frank Ostaseski