Parinama

       The scope of attentive awareness represented by the ekagra mind (single-pointed attentiveness), leads to what psychologist Abraham Maslow called “peak experiences”-moments wherein one experiences the inherent unity of being in harmony with a higher principle than one’s own individual ego. Gitte Bechsgaard, The Gift of Consciousness   Presence is the true refuge. Tara Barch, True Refuge   Awe is a doorway into the soul, the deepest part of ourselves, which connects us to a more expansive and integrative experience of life.    We enter into awe from the heart not the head when we are relaxed, open, and tender.     Moments of awe come unexpectedly.   If we are not sensitive to these experiences, they can pass unnoticed.   They come when we become absorbed in the life around us as it is unfolding, the setting sun, the infant’s grasp of a finger, birdson...

    Love the One You're With   A large chunk of spiritual practice is geared to helping us love the lives we are living. This can seem a puzzling challenge when you consider that most of the time life doesn’t turn out as we had hoped and planned for.   It takes a big shift in perspective and lot of practice to “love the life you’re with” – to paraphrase that old song.   I used to wish that my life looked different.   That the plans I made worked out the way I had hoped for. That life got easier, and in that ease, I would find lasting happiness as if happiness was something solid that you could store away and draw on into infinity as needed.   I looked outside of myself to find happiness since this is what I was taught by this culture and in my family but continued to come up short.   Most of the time I wanted some other life although I did not see it this way.   When life didn’t turn out as I had hoped – a re...