Brad4d Savasana

Although these times try us, it’s important for us to remain in the light. It’s easy to react with bitterness and hostility, but a strong person transforms it through the light.

We struggle when we are alone when it’s not our choosing. Pema Chödrön gives us six suggestions on how to manage the struggle.

Our efforts in self-help are moot if we don’t let go of the behaviors, substances, or relationships that cause our suffering. But it doesn’t stop with us. Once we begin our healing journey, we must aid others in healing their suffering.

Wellness addresses balance of mind, body and spirit. If one is “sick,” the other two will resonate and respond. We might work hard to achieve a healthy body, but if our mind is not healthy, we might never be satisfied with our progress.

Certain roles we play and identities we choose can help us feel a sense of belonging. These roles and identities can also keep us spiritually stuck, preventing us from our unique path. Joshua Harris, a former Christian pastor and writer, recently announced he was no longer a Christian in his concept of the term. However, it is possible that, by abandoning his former identity, he might be more Chri...

As our routines become disrupted these next few months, it’s important to recognize that we’re all in this together. Rather than complaining about our boredom, let’s take some moments to acknowledge how disconnected we’ve become from our hearts and minds.

Lectio Divina is a method of entering deeply into sacred texts. You hear a passage four times, each step settles deeper within. The fourth step finishes with contemplation, where you remain in silence and allow God to respond.

We struggle with this moment when it is uncomfortable, but we also cling to this moment when it is filled with pleasure. However, each moment passes, giving life to the next moment. This moment contributes to your awakening...if you accept it.

We lose our rational thought when caught up in a hot, emotional state. By allowing our emotions to settle and considering the other, we can come to a peaceful resolution rather than an imbalanced one.

It’s important for us to take a look at how certain behaviors, substances and people can limit our ability to see more clearly. It’s recognizing how our taking things to extremes can cause us pain. If we take notice, we might remember a time when we didn’t have this attachment, and we could get on with our lives just fine.

Kahlil Gibran recognizes how his beliefs about the world changed once he listened to his soul. This writing brings forth unity in time, space and humanity.

Thomas Merton often echoes Thoreau in his appreciation of nature. How often we go through life hurried without appreciating the beauty of dawn. Merton describes how the birds, each morning, ask God permission to “be.” God responds, “yes.”

The world wants to tell us we’re “perfect,” or that “perfection” is a goal to be achieved. But perfection keeps us fixed in one moment, limiting our awareness of the changing, impermanent nature of things.

Ruiz’s First Agreement says “be impeccable with your word.” Ultimately what you feel within will find life through your words. If you have love within, negative words can’t take root within, and you don’t feel the need to spread rumors or misinformation.

If we seek to separate and divide ourselves from one another, why do we resist being alone? Thoreau says as our planet is connected to the Milky Way, we are all connected to one another. However, we choose to distract ourselves from the source of life with “outlying and transient circumstances.”

When identified with the ego and the senses, we see ourselves as separate. When we recognize the Self within, we enter the unitive state. This passage comes from the Mundaka Upanishad.

Just as the body needs rest, so do the mind and spirit. Take moments in your life to withdraw from the sensory world and find your inner bliss.

Living in Philadelphia is challenging for me because of the traffic. However, my resistance to sitting in a traffic jam is a reminder of how I’m not accepting the present moment. These reminders are good teachings in resilience.

Chogyam Trungpa writes about the discipline of the warrior in his book, “Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior.” Warriors work for a cause greater than themselves, and therefore they must abandon the ego.

We often engage in behaviors or substances that block our ability to see clearly. During the Christian season of Lent, we are called to reflect on what prevents us from our clear seeing.

We see the embrace of meditation and contemplation in 14th century Christianity in works such as “The Cloud of Unknowing.” The book that follows, “The Book of Privy Counseling,” advances this prayer of quiet, of moving beyond defining God.

So many of us seek answers outside ourselves, but the questions themselves might be meaningless if we don’t look within. Some books have the ability to shake us up, turning the questions inward. Choose those.

Who is the “you” on social media? Who are “you” in society? The roles and labels we give and create are temporal. How we serve humanity at this moment is most important.

If you seek connection, it can be found in nature. This is a passage from The Radiance Sutras, translated by Lorin Roche.

The Dalai Lama calls for us to come together in spiritual dialogue—to recognize what we have in common. The natural world gives evidence of a force that lives around us and within us, connecting all of us.