Saying yes to anger—to the energetic heat and explosiveness in your body—is different from saying yes to the content of your angry thoughts.

The more quickly we become aware of our “no,” the better we can respond to Mara. The difficult situations that evoke a habitual “no”

Many spiritual traditions describe presence as an open, sunlit sky. When presence is full, like the sky it is luminous and boundless, and it provides warmth and nourishment for life. All kinds of weather systems pass through it—happiness, sorrow, fear, excitement, grief—but like the sky itself, presence can hold them all.

we need to realize that these thoughts or beliefs are, as the Zen teachings say, like the finger pointing to the moon, not the moon itself.

without trying to control them or doing anything to resolve them. You may feel a strong urge to start analyzing and fixing things. You need to let that be as well.

Sense that you have the space of awareness to include everything you’ve discovered, that you can fully allow it to be as it is. You can even say yes to the parts of you that are saying no and resisting what’s happening.

Between the stimulus and the response there is a space, and in that space is your power and your freedom. • VIKTOR FRANKL The deepest transformations in our lives come down to something very simple: We learn to respond, not react, to what is going on inside us.

constricting trance to a more awake, spacious presence that can eventually include all of life. It is from this mindful awareness that you will discover fresh, creative, and more compassionate responses to life’s challenges.

What is the most difficult/painful thing I am believing?