The great capacity of the Soul is that it accepts whatever is without trying to push it away.

As Gandhi said, “Fearlessness is the first prerequisite of a spiritual life.” Fear

We should ask ourselves in moments of fatigue whether slowing down may not be a message to attend to the moment—to be with it . . . to taste it . . . to embrace it; a way of making us take time, finally, to tend to what’s here now.

Most of our fears, if we look at them clearly, relate to how we imagine the future will be. Fear thrives on the unknown, and although many of us avoid what scares us, it is more effective to approach our fears as closely as possible—to bring our ideas of the future into the present—in order to disarm them.

We live in illusion, the appearance of things. But there is a reality. We are that reality. When you understand this you see that you are nothing, and being nothing, you are everything. That is all.

When we cease to resist our grief, for example, we learn that, painful though it may be, grief is an integral part of elder wisdom, a force that humbles and deepens our hearts, connects us to the grief of the world, and enables us to be of help.

As the Tibetan teaching instructs, we learn not to “invite” the future into our thoughts before its time, or to cause ourselves unnecessary discomfort, for just as the past traps us in memories, the future traps us in anticipation.

to be mindful of his suffering without taking it on, is similar to the challenges we face with our own bodies, learning to be mindful of our physical state, and to be compassionate toward it. If we can’t find compassion for ourselves, we’ll never find it for anyone else.

They are trained to deal with the dying person’s thirst, coldness, heaviness, and breathlessness, encouraging the one who is dying not to cling to these phenomena. They offer such instructions as these: “As the earth element leaves, your body will feel heavy. As the water element leaves, you will feel dryness. As the fire element leaves, you may fe