Stories Can Be A Jumping-off Point To

The Buddha Never Intended To Make Desire Itself The Problem. When He Said Craving Causes Suffering, He Was Referring Not To Our Natural Inclination As Living Beings To Have Wants And Needs, But To Our Habit Of Clinging To Experience That Must, By Nature, Pass Away.

When I Watch That Attachment Happening, I See The Beliefs That I Have Around It. If Somebody's Not Paying Attention To Me In A Certain Way, In My Mind, It Means They Don't Love Me Or They Don't Respect Me. Bringing Awareness To The Beliefs That Are Underneath The Attachment And Bringing Awareness To The Way My Body And Heart Are Tightening, Helps Me Wake Up And Re-inhabit A Larger Space Of Being. Holding On And Pushing Away Might Be Going On But I'm Freer To Respond In A Healthy Way.

When Caught In Conflict And Blame - Make A U-turn And Shift Your Attention From Blaming Thoughts To What's Going On Emotionally In Your Body.

But This Revolutionary Act Of Treating Ourselves Tenderly Can Begin To Undo The Aversive Messages Of A Lifetime.

The Renowned Seventh-century Zen Master Seng-tsan Taught That True Freedom Is Being "without Anxiety About Imperfection.