After reading the excerpt from Sharon Salzberg's book, 'A Heart As Wide as the World', below are my thoughts:
It is indeed an irony that we lose ourselves by our ownselves. We lose our own freedom by letting our hands be tied by our own addictions to certain objects and experiences that can never bring deep and lasting satisfactions in our life. We are chasing the shadows to find our original self. I love what Rumi says, " How long we fill our pockets like children with dirt and stones? Let the world go. Holding it, we never know ourselves, never are airborne." It is difficult to wake up and see the light. It is difficult to break the chain of addictions or unwholesome attachments to things and experiences that bring superficial and short lived pleasures. I have been working on my self to get rid of those temptations and to be from those self-limiting attachments. Recognizing and accepting my own limitations and working on them to overcome has been very helpful to me. Seeing the rays of light diminishes the self-created darkness. Such awakening and awareness removes the dust covering my vision to see the purity and treasure of my original nature. Daily practice of mindfulness meditation has been one of the most effective and helpful ways for me to break the self-created chain of attachments to objects and experiences. Daily practice of meditation helps me discover the treasure of original nature and be airborne and free.
​Namaste!

Below is my reflection to the article written by Drew Lanham:
Usually we are in the world filled with agenda of what to do. We hardly find a space of aloneness, a place of noiselessness and a place of quietness. We live in the world of having more, doing more, talking more, hearing more and going after more. There is hardly any place where the mind is not buzzing and where the mind is empty and is in the present moment. I love to be in a place where the worldly noises fade away and there is the presence of the present moment. Head is for intellectual knowing and heart is for emotional being. We need both, head and heart. We need to have a dynamic balance between head and heart. When I want to know something new, something unknown I use my head. When it comes to genuine caring either for myself or for others I get connected with my heart. Intellect is the language of the head. Loving and caring is the language of the heart. When I read something new I use my mind to get it. When I listen to poems or music or walk in nature or see the smile of a child I feel joyful feelings and a sense of deep connectedness. When I meditate I feel the flow of blissful energy or blossoming of a flower or hear the sound of silence.
Namaste! 

I love the way James O'Dea expresses the spiritual way of filling the empty well of original or Divine bliss. As Gautam Buddha announces his awakening and attaining the original bliss: Gate, gate, paragate, parasangate, Bodhi swaha: Gone beyond, gone beyond, gone beyond the beyond. What an awakening? What a bliss? When we go beyond, what binds us to the material things and what we get attached to, we taste the freedom, unconditional love, and bliss.
I have learned the for Noble Truths of Buddha's teachings. The first noble truth is suffering. The second noble truth is there is a cause of suffering. The third noble truth is that suffering is transitory. It comes and goes. The fourth noble truth is there ia way to end suffering and be liberated. Whenever I have gone through deep emotional suffering I have accepted it with self-compassion and self-work. This way I have gone through darkness and go beyond it to be blessed by the Divine Light. In that light I see the oneness where nothing and everything are one. It is where the self becomes the Self. Where individual consciousness becomes Unitive Consciousness.
Namaste! 

I like what Dr. Dale Turner used to hand out little green cards with two simple words printed on them: "Extend yourself." Going beyond oneself and helping someone who needs help without any expectation in return is kindness. Kindness comes from the caring heart. Being nice is superficial and not deep like kindness. It is easy to be nice. It does not require genuine efforts to be nice. In kindness, we offer our hand to someone to lighten his heavy emotional burden and soften his heavy heart. We all go through suffering. When I see agony of pain and suffering in someone's eyes I compassionately listen to him and reach out to do whatever I can do to reduce his suffering. Such actions enrich my heart with deep gratification. I would like to conclude my reflection with the words of the author Donna Cameron:" That's when the need is greatest and transformation dances on the edge of possibility. That is the time to take a deep breath and invite kindness to dance"
​Namaste!

Who is running your life chicken or you? Are you like a chicken running around with your head cut off or are you a head running around with your chicken cut off? Who runs your life? Does your desire run your life or your thinking clear mind runs your life?
From my own experience, when I let my desire run my life, I get into trouble. This is the way I relate to the metaphor of chicken and head. My nervous system gets disturbed when my desire, intention and action are not in harmony or in sink with my thinking. I do not like this tug of war within myself. Life teaches us lesson if we are aware and open to see when I get off the track. I know I am not perfect. I have learned not to get imprisoned by my unrealistic desire and that way suffer. Since I am not fighting with my own self, I feel more free and do the best I can. I do not want to be my own enemy. I want to be my friend and live in harmony, in accord with my desire, intellect and actions. Self-examination and following the inner voice of wisdom have helped me live a harmonious life.
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Namaste. 

Above is my reflection to the article by Jon Bernie

Wakanyi Hoffman has written a wonderful article and here is my reflection to it:
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I like the way the mother of the three year old daughter relates to her daughter welcoming the strangers. She is supporting her open-mindedness and open heartedness. She is also concerned about strangers taking advantage of her daughter's welcoming the strangers. Her concern is valid as we know there are people who may take advantage of her innocence. She came up with a compromise. She found a way to teach her to "read" the room inside her heart, to tap into her natural intuition to sense real safety versus real danger. I trust my intuition for making the right choices in relating to strangers in my life. I do not either naively trust strangers or shun them and stay away from them. I become aware of what kinds of vibrations I feel in my body and mind and act accordingly. Have I been always successful in relating to strangers? Of course not. My philosophy of relating to strangers with an open mind and an open heart has caused suffering in me. I have learned valuable lessons from my suffering: Not to trust strangers blindly. I trust my intuition in relating to strangers and it has helped me to enrich my life. Authenticity, intuition, open mindedness and open heartedness have helped me to truly welcome the stranger at the door of my heart with no strings or judgements attached. There is a joy in welcoming strangers.
Namaste!

Based on the article written by James Parker, here is my reflection:
​I expect success or good results from what I do. The same way I expect success or good results from what others do. There are times when my expectations from me and from others were not realized. When my expectations from me and from others were realized I felt happy and gratified. And when they were not realized I felt disappointed and unhappy.

What have I learned from my reflections on my satisfaction and dissatisfaction is to have realistic expectations from me and from others. This is better than being bound by my expectations from me and from others. However, the best way is to do the best I can without expectations of any kind. To do what I can do without being attached to the expectations of my own actions or the expectations of other's actions. This way of living brings fulfillment, peace and happiness. It helps me to live in actuality and in freedom.

Below is my reflection to the excerpt written by the author J.Krishnamurti:
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Where there is no fear, no doubt, no hesitation, no conditions there is love. Such love unites us and creates unbroken and undivided oneness. As I understand from my own experience, such love creates unity and oneness within and without, personal and interpersonal. My mother used to tell me, "You cannot love others if you do not love yourself." She was a living example of such deep, pure, truthful and blissful love. My mother planted the seeds of such pure love and the seeds and they grew into a fragrant and flowering plant. I have been blessed to be with people who has opened their arms to welcome me with deep affection and love. Mind can be our friend and mind can be our foe. When I use my mind to understand what causes disunity and what causes unity, my mind is my friend. I also have come to understand the power of heart, the power of kindness, compassion and love. We need three H's to live fully: Head, Heart and Hands. We need to cultivate intellect, love, and skillful hands to live a life of selfless service, unconditional love and purity of heart. These are the foundations of intrapersonal, interpersonal and communal wellbeing. And we all can do this.
Namaste! 

I love to read and re-read this beautiful poem Look Around In Wonder by Davis Griswold. It's a song of Wonderment, a song of Wow. The Wow experiences are happening in the Outside Natural World as well as in the Inside World, the world of the Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual dimensions. Both worlds offer gifts of surprise, wonderment and inspiration. It's a dynamic world with its own rhyme and rhythm.

The following four lines of the poem touch my heart and inspire me to live a life of wonderment:
Look above and look below And look at last within.
You'll see a river there,
And when you do, jump in.

The inner river is the river of delightful surprises, amazement, and fulfillment. I have been blessed to have such wow moments when I am in the midst of nature deeply enjoying the wonderful Divine creation and in the company of loving and caring people. It happens when I am walking on the spiritual path, receiving and offering gifts of unconditional love. Wonderment happens when I do not live in the past or worry about the future. Past is gone and future has yet to arrive. Living in the present moment mindfully with an open heart and practicing meditation regularly keeps the flame of curiosity and wonderment alive and unflickering.

​Namaste!

Below is the reflection based on the article written by Gangaji:
To me vigilance is to remain awake and aware of the reality unfolding right in front of my outward and inward eyes. When I keep my outward and inward eyes clear I make wise choices. Light of vigilance helps me see things as they are and not to be deluded.

It is very important to me to remain awakened and aware of the physical, mental, emotional, behavioral and relational dimensions of my life. When I am vigilant about how I relate to these dimensions of my life everyday living becomes joyful and blissful.

As I have mentioned before awakening and awareness helps me live blissfully. Light of vigilance helps me to live mindfully and fully.
Namaste!