White privilege is having the choice to be white or not, to claim membership in a white group identity or not, to be aware of race or not, and to talk about race or not—all without consequence.

Metta is not a prayer for help from something or someone outside of ourselves. It is not an ego-driven kindness based on possessions, attachment, or grasping, nor is it overly sentimental. Rather, metta is a genuine desire for all beings, without exception, to be safe from inner and outer harm, to be healthy and content, and to live with ease.

3. SEEK UNDERSTANDING Seeking understanding interrupts projections and cultivates empathy. You seek understanding by asking questions—one at a time—and then being quiet. When seeking understanding, slow down, check in, and breathe, as this supports stability and presence. Avoid interrupting when the other person is speaking. Be open to softening your

Change the story and you change perception; change perception and you change the world. JEAN HOUSTON

A Word about Wise Speech Habits of harm are often expressed in our speech. Sometimes our speech, to our surprise and often embarrassment, can tell us what we are really thinking. My mother kept my brother’s parrot for several months. I recall visiting her one day, and the parrot began to mimic her one-sided conversation on a recent phone call—her l

Enjoy your problems. SHUNRYŪ SUZUKI The reality is that healing happens between people. The wound in me evokes the healer in you, and the wound in you evokes the healer in me, and then as the two healers, we collaborate. RACHEL NAOMI REMEN, author and alternative medicine practitioner

can result through the practice of mindfulness meditation: regulating the body, attuning to others, balancing emotions, being flexible in our responses, soothing fear, creating empathy, cultivating more understanding, gaining awareness of our morals, and achieving heightened intuition.

Compassion is the wish that everyone, without exception, is free from pain and suffering and its causes. Yet,

The voting process is what put the people who govern our lives into office. If we do not participate in the electoral process, we can’t change its dysfunction, and we cannot influence decisions and policies that impact our communities. We may not like the system or trust it, and