A practical and wise exploration of ways in which our wanting things to be static and unchanging, especially with regard to our mental and emotional patterns, limits our lives and creates suffering. The evening ends with a discussion.
This talk continues the exploration of how the practice cultivates happiness and joy. Five wholesome states that support true well-being are investigated including practices that help us access them.
A reflection on the faculty of energy and how to apply it skillfully. Energy for investigation that leads to wisdom, energy for devotion and aspiration that uplifts the heart, energy for mindfulness of body that results in calm and insight.
We sometimes think that if we are experiencing aversion in our practice, that insight must be out of reach. Yet the Buddha teaches us that the path unfolds through understanding suffering. When we bring mindfulness to aversion itself, the understanding that develops can be very freeing.
Love is the most basic expression of who we are, and yet it is often obscured by the trance of separation and fear. This talk explores how we habitually armor our hearts, and the training of attention that awakens us to unconditional, all inclusive love. A classic form of the metta (lovingkindness) meditation is part of the talk.
