Principles

  • We are living in a time of great stress, division, and change. It is a time of great uncertainty, opportunity, and possibility.
  • The circumstances that make up our lives may be more complex than we can easily adapt to.
  • And yet we are noble animals, capable of choosing how to live rather than responding to instinct.
  • We seek peace and satisfaction. Or is “ease” a better word? If we know how to find it, it still disappears. If we rarely experience it, we’re often striving to get it back. 
  • It’s possible to wonder what’s wrong with the way life works that we cannot sustain a sense of satisfaction.
  • We all play a part in this complex, striving way of living. That means that I alone am not the problem or the solution. And neither are you. We’re in this together.
  • But only I can do something about me. Only you can do something about you.
  • There’s nothing inherently wrong with you or me. But it’s common for one of us to think there’s something wrong with the other. (Sound familiar?)
  • No matter the size or scale of problem we’re working on, we have to look to individuals – you, me, each of us. I am part of the problem and part of the solution. (See above.)
  • We experience all of the above and express it in what we say and do every day. We can’t help but feel it and react to it. We are in it; we are it. 
  • To be able to see things clearly, including ourselves, we need to be quiet. 
  • When we are quiet, we see that we are full of busyness, restlessness, advice, questions, commentary, complaints, and opinions, all without saying a word. When we are quiet, we find we are not still.
  • When we cultivate stillness, clarity follows. 
  • How big a relief might it be to sit still, to be quiet, to listen, and to pause – without doing anything? What would it be like to try?
  • What would it be like to come from the clarity that follows more and more every day?