BodyMindCircle

  From ann lamotte: I have catastrophe burn out. I wish there was a box I could check on the menu that said, “Gone Fishing.” Ukraine has taken up most of my compassion budget, the earth’s heat wave has used up my allocation for terror, and then we have dear brother Trump’s steady poll numbers. And this does not even include the grief I feel for the people in my own small galaxy, where friends are under siege from disease, mental illness, and children of all ages who have had failure to thrive for decades. Life has been way, way too lifey this summer. I am kind of despaired out. So now what? Where is the renewal of energy and hope and willingness to help? I don’t know. But something has got to arise because I am shutting down: half and hour ago, I went to the Red Cross website to donate to the people on Maui, a place where I have experienced paradise a dozen times. As I was completing the form, a window popped up asking for a $12.99 processing fee. Really? I decl...

 Moving into a new year!  Is there any way we can prepare ourselves?  Do you make new years resolutions ? It's good to set some intentions, but when we cling to the intentions we set and get disappointed and bent out of shape when they don't come to fruition, that is called "aparigraha", or "grasping".  That is what buddhism says is the cause of suffering.   Sometimes we set our goals based on our aversions.  We might not know what we want, but we clearly know what we don't want. Ie, I know I don't want that virus to permeate our lives anymore.  Yoga and buddhism teach us to accept whatever comes.  This is called "equanimity". Pema chodrin talks about equanimity as having a party and being ok with whoever shows up.  Well, we all have preferences,that is natural, but 2020 has shown us that we really cant choose what shows up in the end.  If we don't like what shows up, we can fuss and fume, but that reaction just increases our suffer...