Here’s how to heal:

Grieve the old life.

Yes. Let it hurt.

Let yourself say, “I abandoned myself for a fantasy.”

Then use your grief as a vow.

Let your tears become the waters of a new life.

No more postponement.

No more waiting rooms.

No more “one day…”

No more keeping one foot out of the door.

The years behind you cannot be relived. That is true. Weep them out.

But the lost years can become the reason you never abandon yourself again.

From the ashes of the old life,

may you emerge –

renewed, whole, and singing.

~Jeff Foster

what is care of the soul?

inquiry for today~ may your angels follow….

when we remember why….

Taking refuge in sangha is a very deep practice. You trust the sangha. You become the sangha. If you are a drop of water, you might wonder whether you have the capacity to go to the ocean. But when you become a river, you are sure you don’t have to worry. You will certainly come to the ocean. In Plum Village, we try to practice like that. We don’t want to be a drop of water. We want to be a river. And by practicing becoming a river, we suffer much less. Individual suffering can be transformed very easily when we share the concern of the sangha, the happiness of the sangha, the dedication of the sangha.

And that is why when we come and sit together, when we come and walk together, when we come and eat together, and work together, there’s a powerful energy in us. That energy is the energy of mindfulness. That energy is embracing the pain, looking deeply into the pain in order for us to understand the pain and to have the kind of insight that will lead to the transformation of the pain.

~Thcih Nhat Hanh