(retreat talk) - By dedicating ourselves to loving the life that is right here--ourselves--we discover the heartspace that holds this world. This talk explores the pathways of forgiveness, offering and letting in love, and gratitude that reveal the vastness of loving presence.

How joy, self-hatred and gratitude relate to the tenderness of existence itself.

A short introduction to empathetic joy (or Mudita) including a discussion of the qualities of appreciation, gratitude and empathetic connection.

How appreciating others' happiness lessens the forces of envy and conceit in our hearts and encourages gratitude and contentment.

Guided Meditation

Allowing the unreliability of it all to uncouple our grasping, while encouraging calm, kindness, gratitude and collectedness to keep us afloat...

How to turn the attention to gratitude and appreciation as a support to turn the mind away from wanting and deficiency.

Many of us do not realize the accessibility of the heart. We think it is distant and attainable only through hard work. But it is as close as a pause in our thoughts, a hesitation in our busyness, and is the natural response of awareness to life. Our thoughts cover the heart with a foggy distraction, but when we interrupt the stream of our thinking the heart response with a gentle appreciation for living. In that moment life is acknowledging itself with gratitude. During this season of Thanksgiving, look deeply and silently to call forth this natural appreciation for living.