The short and crisp message from the Discipline of Tao by D.T. Suzuki is a must read, and here is my reflection to it:

How to discipline ourselves in Tao is a question that every Mindfulness meditator asks the master and himself. The answer the Zen master Hui-hai gives to Yuan, the questioner, is simple and profound: Be Here Now: not to conjure up all kinds of imaginations and and varieties of idle thoughts; to empty the mind clouded with idle thoughts. In my Mindfulness Meditation practice, I let whatever arises in my body, mind and heart come and go. Letting in and letting go is my way of emptying the useless and harmful stuff. It helps me to stay in the present moment. This daily Mindfulness practice helps me in my daily tasks and transactions. Emptiness is Fullness.

Last night I had a very helpful and fruitful talk with my 23 years old grandson. He wanted to learn how to be his true self-genuine and authentic self with his friends when they have a different take on Black Life Matters. We had a dialogue between two of us. This was a good opportunity for practicing Mindfulness. He observed me how I had kept my mind and heart open and non-judgmental while listening to him and responding to him without judging him. Both of us felt deeply connected with each other and understood each other's position on this hot and burning issue. It was a cool and enriching experience for both of us.

Practicing non-judgmental existential awareness of what is happening in me in my daily life helps me to deepen my presence with me and with others. Non-judgmental self-awareness and open-mindedness enrich and deepen my understanding of myself and other people in my life. Beginner's mind is an open, empty, receptive, and a wise mind.
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May we all learn and practice what Hui-hai taught Yuan.
Namaste!

There are many ways in which we can use mindfulness practice for working on our relationships. One of the ways for cultivating relationships is to understand the relationship between our feelings and emotions with our needs. Our feelings are indicators of our met or unmet needs. When our needs are met, we feel happy, joyful, content, peaceful etc. If our needs are not met we feel angry, upset, sad, confused, irritated or sad.

Reflect on the following statements:
I’m feeling hurt because I wanted to be included.
I’m feeling confused because I need more information.
I’m feeling irritated because I want things to go more smoothly.
I feel angry because I wanted to be treated with respect.

Our feelings stand for what matters to us. Rather than getting in the way, we consider our feelings and emotions revealing information about ourselves. We consider as a reflection what matters to us. In relationships we need to recognize that my feelings are about my needs and your feelings. We take the responsibility of our feelings and needs and do not attribute to the other in our relationship.

We understand our feelings as pointers to our needs and learn to express them in statements. How it is met or not met. If it is met or not we take responsibility for what we feel and what we need. We act mindfully for taking care of our needs. We do not engage in blaming games. Sadly and unfortunately many people are caught up in reacting to each other and finding fault with others. Such transactions result in unfulfilled and unhappy relations. Life is lived superficially and joylessly.

When we learn and understand the fact of connecting or linking our emotions to our own needs and to communicate with the other mindfully, our relationships start changing for the better. When we recognize and become aware of what is going inside ourselves without reacting and blaming.

Below is a recording from August 8th,2020 Satsang mindfulness meditation session after reading the above article:
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What an interesting read of the Excerpt from the book, "Total Freedom" by  author- J.Krishnamurthi. My reflections to the article is below:

Internal change and external change are interconnected. If I focus my energy in participating in the mass movement or collective action blindly and compulsively, I will not be the true participant or agent of change. The change will be on the surface and superficial. The wheel of suffering will continue. Deep, true, inward, and voluntary change happens when I deeply, honestly, intelligently and freely explore what fundamentally needs to be changed and how I can be an active and dynamic part of this change. Deep and lasting change takes place when there is an alignment among Head-intelligent, honest and clear thinking, Heart-love, courage, and compassion, and Hand- action. The three H's need be harmony-the fourth H.

I recall two mass movements in which I had participated-one in India and the other in the USA. The first mass movement was the freedom movement called Satyagraha led by Mahatma Gandhi. It was based on two fundamental principles: Truth and Non-violence. It became a national movement against the unjust British rulers. Gandhiji was an earnest truth seeker and peace maker. He embodied his message: " Be the change you want to have in the world."

The second mass movement in which I participated was a movement against Vietnam war. I was very clear about the goal of the movement. The problem I had in fully participating in the movement was some of the means that were employed by the leaders of the movement. There was no alignment between the means and the end. I am against using verbal and physical use of violence for attaining justice and peace. I could not fully and whole heatedly participate in the movement.

We all are witnessing mass protest in our country against the injustice inflicted by the brutal power used by some police officers against black people. I fully support the mass movement against racial and social injustice. I believe in taking a stand for justice and equality. I do not want to standby as an observer. I have spent a good amount of time reflecting on what I can do to be a part of this ongoing movement. I am an educator. My work is to educate parents, students, and community about this long standing systemic problem affecting all of us and encourage them for taking action.
Namaste!

Excerpt from "Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything." by Viktor Frankl is available here. Here is my reflection to it:
There is an existential approach or standpoint when it comes to asking the question what is the meaning of life. The meaning of life is not static and so is the question. Life is dynamic. Life is changing. How do I relate to this truth of life? By using the past frame of reference or by planning for thee future? My response to life is relating to life as it unfolds. The unfolding life presents specific challenges in the concreteness of here and now.

We all are aware of the challenges we are facing at this time. We see the cruel face of mankind, the hurting heart of mankind, the angry outburst of mankind. This is an existential challenge to all of us. How do I relate to this existential challenge? I do not believe in remaining indifferent or quiet. I also do not believe in taking it in piecemeal or in a fragmented way. It is a systemic problem and it needs to be tackled in a systemic way. I am examining myself and becoming aware of my own biases and prejudice. Is my mind static? Am I hiding myself from myself? These self-examining questions are very important to me for understanding and relating to what is happening in our society.

I am helping myself by allowing what arises in my consciousness. It is like welcoming the unwelcoming, those parts of myself that I do not want to look at, sense or feel. It is liberating myself from myself to have a clear vision of what is and how can I relate to that is-ness.
Namaste!

Barbara Fredrickson's excerpt from  her book Positivity is mentioned in the Awakin.org website for us to enjoy. Though, she has withdrawn her support for the positivity ratio, its a great read. Below is my reflection to the article:

I have learned from my personal experience that life is not a straight line. It has curves, twists and turns. I have experienced negative emotions such as fear, depression and anger. They are not easy to control. Such negative emotions have made my life difficult. There are two ways of dealing with such negative emotions: denial,suppression or rationalization. The other way is to recognize them, and work on them or get professional help.

Some time ago I went for one week long silent retreat. The first two days were difficult for me. I am not used to remaining silent for more than a day. It was a new and difficult experience for me. I felt restless, agitated, and bored. I accepted my difficult emotions and difficult times. After two days it was easy for me to remain silent. In fact I enjoyed the presence of silence and saw the value and power of silence. I spent a good amount of time on introspection and also seeing the peaceful beauty of nature. Silence opened up new doors of perception for me.

Keeping my mind and heart open and maintaining self-awareness helps me to tap into genuine heart-felt positive emotions. I feel inner fullness when I experience love, kindness, joy and compassion. There is fullness in such genuine positive emotional experiences. Since there is genuine fullness and richness in such living, I do not need to grasp for the counterfeit gold.
Namaste!

It is quite obvious that I did not have my voice to choose when and where I was to be born. That was beyond my control. But I have freedom to make my choices about how to live my life. I did not have control over what genes I was going to inherit from my parents. But I have freedom to create wholesome internal environment and external environment. Have I always made the wise choices?Of course not. There were times when I knew what was the right way to go but my actions were not in alignment with what I knew. I paid the price for it, learned from my wrong turn, and took the right path. It is a matter of choice making. I use my "second arrow"-the arrow of how to relate to my situations and experiences, as the Buddha has taught us.

One of the most difficult decisions I needed to make was about marrying someone whom I loved dearly. She came from a different caste, from an upper class, and from a different religion. I was the first person in my family to have an inter caste marriage. I followed the voice of my heart and faced whatever I had to face for making my choice. That was a big and bold step in my life. And that has laid a strong foundation for me for making right-wise- choices in my life.

Experience is a great teacher. Book knowledge is helpful but not enough. I need to cultivate and nourish my need to self-actualize. It is not always easy to sing my song when the people close to me either turn their ears away or use their tongue against me. The gate of freedom is narrow and the road is hard.There are times when like Rabindranath Tagore says, "Walk alone even when nobody cares to listen to your voice." Love and courage help me to follow my voice.

The above comments was my reflection to the article posted here. 
Namaste!

Kahlil Gibran  has written a simple thought provoking passage and below is my reflection to it:

Are there two separate identities-the river identity and the ocean identity? Or is there One identity? Outwardly, there appears two identities like the river and the ocean. But when they embrace each other and merge into each other, they become one. When I love someone deeply, I become one with her. There are no twos. In pure love there is only one. They may appear two. Pure love creates a union of two and they become one. When I consider myself as body-mind complex, I have a separate identity. Two different names and forms. My true identity is nameless and formless. According to the ancient Vedanta philosophy, My True identity is Divine identity. It is not bound by my individual identity. When I merge into the ocean of Divinity, I become one with it. We may call it soul identity.

When I got deeply connected with my beloved I felt I was in a different , unfamiliar and unchartered territory. Since I had not traveled on this love path before, at times I felt the fear of the new territory. It did not stay longer. The light of true love dispelled that fear. It brought deep unending joy and fulfillment in me as well as in my beloved. We became one.
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When I let go of my ego and open my heart to the other person, I shed my individual body-mind identity, the river identity, I became one with the ocean-like identity. I call it Spiritual Identity. I become mindful when I sense my ego identity arising in my consciousness. I sense the shadow of darkness coming and I mindfully make a shift from darkness to light. I meditate on the Vedic mantra in Sanskrit "Asato ma sad gamaya, tamsormajyotir gamaya, mrityor ma amritamgamaya. Om shantihi, shantihi, shantihi" Lead me from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, from mortality to immortality. Om Peace, Peace, Peace!

Namaste!