In some fundamental way, to meditate isn’t to have some special meditative experience.

But to come back to the mysterious experience of being alive, that we take for granted.

~Jack Kornfield

creating and listening and opening…..

inquiry for today~ the day is actually long and winding….

when the day unfolds wildly

You are not here to find love, nor to be greeted by happiness at every turn, nor to be showered with kindness, nor to be celebrated by all, to forever remain a child.

No. You came here to create love out of war.

Your soul willingly left its blissful place beyond all troubles to descend into a stifling frame of bone, blood and flesh. Why? Because only here can inner strength be forged by pain, can wisdom be nurtured by failure, can love be the reward of those who choose to give love. Your soul came here to struggle with the bitter things of life and squeeze out of them a syrup of sweet, inner joy.

And as there is no sweetness as succulent as bittersweet, so there is no river of love that runs as deep as the love forged through a battle of the heart, no strength as powerful as that wrestled from the hands of an enemy through stubborn, defiant resolve, no wisdom as the wisdom gained by stumbling in darkness, standing up again, stumbling and walking again, and again.

All that is good, all that has meaning, all is up to you alone.

~Rabbi Tzvi Freeman