I remember several years ago waking to an epiphany.

“If only I practice peace in each moment, then – every single moment will be a happy one.” At the time, it seemed a perfectly reasonable objective. And, every morning I woke with the intention of carrying this energy forward, however…

Oh, dear – yes, just ‘however.’

Life has a way of challenging even the most optimistic of plans. Our hope is that we may gently slough off the layers of our formerly deluded self; that we may detach from the ‘fixture’ of ego and embark on a path that is truly limitless.

However…

What we might presume to be the simplest of tasks, can suddenly take on an energy all to its own. We have such enormous spiritual potential, and yet – we allow the tiniest of upsets to detract and discourage; we lose hope with even the most subtle variations of path.

With respect to our spiritual practice, the energy of discouragement can prove disastrous – or, it can serve to strengthen our resolve.

In Being Peace, Thich Nhat Hahn encourages the transformation of this energy through the mind’s engagement, even amidst the most debilitating of circumstances.

“In Plum Village in France,” he shares. “we receive many letters from the refugee camps in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, hundreds each week. It is very painful to read them, but we have to do it, we have to be in contact. We try our best to help, but the suffering is enormous, and sometimes we are discouraged. It is said that half the boat people die in the ocean; only half arrive at the shores in Southeast Asia. . .

In Buddhism, the most important precept of all is to live in awareness, to know what is going on. To know what is going on, not only here, but there. . .

Meditation is to see deeply into things, to see how we can change, how we can transform our situation. To transform our situation is also to transform our minds. To transform our minds is also to transform our situation, because the situation is mind, and mind is situation.”

Awakening to our experience is critically important, my loves. It allows us the opportunity to look within, to understand the dynamics of situation, and to offer our hearts fully throughout every aspect of the healing process.

And though, it might seem impossible, at times — my darlings, I promise you it is entirely within our reach.

So long as we stay true to course in spite of this energy of discouragement.

As His Holiness the Dalai Lama reminds,

“As long as we live in this world we are bound to encounter problems. If, at such times, we lose hope and become discouraged, we diminish our ability to face difficulties.”

Though, if we align our hearts again to purpose — we realize that we alone make the difference.

A change of attitude will effect a change of heart, my loves. And, with that change we create the conditions for a more loving world.

In peace ~

Namaste ❤️