April 18th #48 – Train without bias in all areas. It is crucial always to do this pervasively and wholeheartedly. Pema: It is important to include everyone and everything that you meet as part of your practice. They become the means by which you cultivate compassion and wisdom. A day filled with many tasks, including the preoccupation of a mistake I made, provided me with the opportunity to meet myself with understanding and compassion. When busyness is involved, anxiousness and stress can snowball with self-imposed deadlines to meet. As for mistakes, these can take mental energy away from being present,...

April 17th #25 – Don’t talk about injured limbs. Pema: Don’t try to build yourself up by talking about other people’s defects. When we have been bruised, without thinking, we discuss and complain how others have blemished us. We proceed to catalogue all of their shortcomings. We proceed to do this to get people in our corner, since feeling as the victim. It is a natural occurrence as a human who suffers. I, among many others here in the world, have done the same.   As I contemplated on this mind-training slogan today, I can see how it holds me back...

April 16th #23 – Always abide by the three basic principles. Pema: The three basic principles are: Keeping the promises you made if you took refuge vows and bodhisattva vows. When we take the refuge vow, we vow to take refuge in the Buddha, as an example of how to open and let go, the dharma (Buddha’s teachings) as instructions on how to do this, and the sangha, the community of those who are also on this path. When we take the bodhisattva vow, we vow to awaken in order to help others to do the same. Refraining from outrageous...

April 15th #12 – Drive all blames into one. Pema: This is advice on how to work with your fellow beings. Everyone is looking for someone to blame and therefore aggression and neurosis keep expanding. Instead, pause and look at what’s happening with you. When you hold on so tightly to your view of what they did, you get hooked. Your own self-righteousness causes you to get all worked up and to suffer. So work on cooling that reactivity rather than escalating it. This approach reduces suffering—yours and everyone else’s. I can say that my day did not really lead...

April 14th #53 – Don’t vacillate Pema: If you train in awakening compassion only some of the time, it will slow down the process of giving birth to certainty. Wholeheartedly train in keeping your heart and mind open to everyone.  Note: I have decided to post these the next morning vs. the end of the day since I want to be compassionate to myself and enjoy resting in the evening.  This card precedes yesterday’s card. I chose to do them out of order as that is what Pema suggested which is to choose the card at random. Is it really...

April 13th #54 Train wholeheartedly. Pema: Train enthusiastically in strengthening your natural capacity for compassion and loving-kindness. My husband and I were away for several days. I decided that I would forgo my practice of the compassion cards knowing that the four days would be busy and it might not be feasible to write about each day. This was a lesson in compassion and loving-kindness because the ego implied that I was not doing my duty to practice consistently even while away. Granted, I did meditate while we were away so loving-kindness was one of the mindfulness practices I used...