A Meditation From Knowing How To Give

I like to think of myself as generous. Hopefully so do you. And, I know I could do more.

It’s not just about philanthropy although that matters. It’s about being loving, compassionate, and patient, too.

And it’s about giving the gift of fearlessness: asking myself how I can help make everyone feel safe and at home, even the “other side,” and even those whose political views are very different from mine. What if we could begin all of our conversations with that kind of generosity? Maybe we could build more bridges instead of tearing so much down.

Transcript

So,

Taking a comfortable posture,

The posture that would most,

That would best support your practice today,

Right now,

Yeah,

Letting the words go,

Relaxing into the present moment,

Into the connection to the earth,

To yourself,

To one another,

And then just taking this time together to be generous to yourself,

Giving yourself the gift of the teachings,

Just the gift of silence,

And the gift of not having anything that you have to do or anyone that you have to be right now,

Right now,

And just breathing.

And in case the mind is busy or you're wandering into the day,

Worrying,

Planning,

Just being generous to yourself and saying,

I don't need to do that right now.

I can just breathe.

And also being generous to the wandering mind by being kind to yourself,

Knowing that's just what the mind does.

And so,

When you notice the wandering mind,

Can you smile?

Just being kind to this mind that we all have that is busy,

Occupied,

And then let go of whatever occupation it seems to have conjured up right now.

Giving yourself the gift of this time in silence and feeling the joy of it,

Of the decision to sit quietly for just 10 minutes today,

Maybe even having a sense of how much benefit this practice will bring to the world,

To your world.

You may be sensing some joy in anticipation of that.

The Buddha is said to have said,

If beings knew,

As I know,

The results of giving and sharing,

They would not eat without having given,

Nor would the stain of selfishness overcome their minds.

Even if it were their last bite,

Their last mouthful,

They would not eat without having shared,

If there were someone to receive their gift.