Meditation Month Weekly updates and guided meditations from a Buddhist teacher throughout the month of March When we’re creating change there will be mud and all its discomfort and messiness. Perhaps this is a more useful wisdom than “fail fast” for those creating change inside of big organizations. Peterson, C. & Seligman, M.E.P. (2004) Character Strengths and Virtues: A handbook ad classification. Lotus Beaded Bracelet, Yoga Healing Inspiration Cuff Bracelet, Sandalwood Beaded Bracelet, No Mud No Lotus Bracelet, Essential Oil Bracelet These Gays, They're Trying to Murder Me Unisex T-shirt - The White Lotus - Tanya McQuoid - Jennifer Coolidge

There is no birth and death; everything dies and renews itself all the time. When you get that kind of insight, you no longer tire yourself out with anxiety and aversion.” Meditation Shirt, Spiritual Shirt, Women's Yoga Shirt, Lotus Flower Tee, Zen Shirt, No Mud No Lotus, Meditation Gift, Buddhist Gift Tee The first of the Four Noble Truths is the truth of suffering. We can either reject or accept this truth as an inevitable part of our existence. Then, if we accept and even embrace difficult experiences, we can use our suffering as a tool for growth. ConclusionWrite and/or illustrate your own life story about a time you were experiencing darkness and challenging times. Explore as little or as much detail as feels comfortable. Perhaps reflect on whether there were hidden gifts in the darkness that you came to see? Then chronicle your path out of the darkness.

In each of our Plum Village practice centers around the world, we have a lotus pond. Everyone knows we need to have mud for lotuses to grow. The mud doesn’t smell so good, but the lotus flower smells very good. If you don’t have mud, the lotus won’t manifest. You can’t grow lotus flowers on marble. Without mud, there can be no lotus. no mud, no lotus developing understanding and compassion Just as the well-tended compost becomes a flower garden, when we take care of and look deeply into our sorrow, it transforms into under- standing and compassion. The way to understanding is first to listen to yourself, because the roots of our suffering are deep and connected with the roots of the suffering of others. Usually we think that other people, such as our parents, our partner, or people at work, are to blame for our hurt. But looking more deeply, we can see the true sources of our own suffering, and we also can see that the person who we think is out to get us is a victim of his or her own suffering. Understanding our own hurt allows us to see and understand the suffering of others. Looking without judgment, we can understand, and compassion is born. Transforma- tion is possible. When you’re upset with someone, it may seem at first that this other person has no reason to suffer. His life may seem happy and carefree, and he may have all the things in his life that you think you want. But when you are able to look deeply enough, you will see the suf- fering in him. Sitting and walking mindfully, you direct your attention to the causes underlying the other person’s behavior. You see clearly that he has a lot of pain inside and doesn’t know how to handle it. That is why he suffers so much and makes the people around him suffer. What he needs is help, not punishment. If you stay with this practice, the sufffering of anger or jealousy in you will dissipate and the flower of compassion will be born. When there is no more blame or criticism in your eyes, when you 38 Even though the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic are not over, not yet, you can create a coherent narrative about events that have already happened to gain insight into how you have learned to “play an active role in how adversity transforms you.” (Kelly McGonigal in The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You and How to Get Good at It.)

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Hand Stamped Lotus Keyring, Lotus Keyring, No mud no lotus, Inspirational Gift, Gift For Her, Lotus flower One of the most important benefits of suffering is that, by experiencing it, we come to appreciate the value of reality. While the experience of pleasure connects us to the realm where there are no limits, the experience of pain makes us aware of our limitations. When we get hurt, despite all of our efforts, we are humbled by constraints that we sometimes fail to notice when we are feeling good and positive. When in ecstasy, we often lift our heads up to the heavens, to infinity; but then when in agony, we cast our gaze down to the earth, to finite. This is symbolic as much as it is true. Begin this practice by looking deeply into your body. Ask, How is my body in this moment? How was it in the past? How will it be in the future? Look into your body to see whether it is at peace or is suffering. Look at the condition of your lungs, your heart, your intestines, your kidneys, and your liver to see what the real needs of your body are. Many of us slog through life without conscious awareness or intention. We set ourselves a course and we barrel ahead, without stopping to ask whether this path is fulfilling our most important goals. That's partly because many of us believe that happiness is not possible in the here and now. We think we need to struggle now so that we will be happy in the future. So we postpone happiness and try to run into the future and attain the conditions of happiness that we don't have now.” How to ease pain and generate joy through meditation By Thich Nhat Hanh Feb 17, 2022 Thich Nhat Hanh | Photo courtesy Parallax Press

Practicing mindful walking, mindful breathing, you generate the energy of mindfulness. With that energy you recognize the painful feeling in you and you embrace it tenderly. You lullaby and calm the painful feeling. Negative emotions are part of life. Some I call “authentic”—because they inspire positive change and lead to growth. Some I call “counterfeit” —debilitating us, resulting in useless stress and suffering. Once you have made the distinction between authentic and counterfeit, the next step in “undoing” a negative emotion is to intentionally cultivate a positive emotion to take its place. Research on the “undoing effect” of positive emotions suggests that people can improve their wellbeing by evoking positive emotions at opportune moments to cope with negative emotions. Inducing a positive emotion can loosen the hold that a negative emotion has gained on a person’s mind and body. For example, if you are feeling rejected after learning someone else got the promotion you wanted, you can cultivate the emotion (and character strength) of gratitude as you intentionally focus on other positive aspects of your life. This helps us learn to self-regulate and to bring our best selves to the forefront—strengthening our emotional health, our relationships with others, and making us more productive and content.Lotus Flower Stained Glass Canvas Print, Zen Buddhism Artwork, Ancient Culture Art, Vibrant Mosaic Flower Art, Interconnectedness Creating change requires doing the homework, building alliances, forming a realistic picture of what’s possible, standing up to the naysayers, and steadfastly moving forward, planning the next step and the one after that. Many days sinking up to our knees in mud, others restraining ourselves from angrily tossing cow flaps at people who resist what we’re trying to accomplish, and some laughing and commiserating with our co-workers. Ban the heroes. Together, it’s less uncomfortable.

Create: Recognize that you have the choice and ability to respond to this difficult emotion in creative new ways. Identify a character strength such as hope, forgiveness, perspective, bravery, creativity, kindness to self, gratitude, etc., to help you transform this negative emotion and to create a positive shift in perspective that better serves you. How can you learn and grow from this experience? What new positive emotions are you feeling now? Notice the negative emotion gradually dissipate and lose its power over you, as new positive emotions are created in its place. Celebrate this emancipating feeling by treating yourself to an enjoyable activity. Do you go through life without conscious awareness? Do you consider if the path you are on is fulfilling your goals? Do you postpone happiness today, believing it will be there in the future? The first domain of mindfulness is the breath and the body. Being aware of our in-breath and out-breath is a very simple exercise, but the effect is very great. It can stop our thinking, worries, and fears, and it brings us a lot of freedom. When we focus our attention on our in-breath and out-breath, not only can we enjoy our breathing, but we are established in the here and the now, we can be in touch with many wonders of life within and around us, and the process of healing can start. Next we become aware of the whole body and release the tension in the body. While taking care of the body we produce freedom and joy, because body is linked to mind. When bringing our mind to the present and focusing our attention on the in and out breath, we unite our mind and body. As you continue to breathe in and out mindfully, you maintain a state of presence and freedom. Clearing your mind, healing your bodyPractice looking at yourself and others without blame or criticism in your eyes. When you look closely with compassion, you see things differently, you speak differently and it becomes transformative and healing for you while also easing the pain of others. Nhat Hanh discusses the question of whether or not the Buddha suffered by saying that since he had a body, feelings, and perceptions (like all of us) he should also have experienced suffering. Both physical suffering and mental suffering are unavoidable, but we can suffer much less if we don’t water the seeds of suffering within ourselves. We cannot simply consume to cover up our suffering; we need to practice spiritual skills to develop the ability and strength necessary to look deep into our suffering and make an inner breakthrough. How Can We Use Suffering as a Tool for Growth?