Tools that Work
There are several tools that work well in terms of helping us find contentment, fulfillment and happiness. It seems that the most valuable lesson for anyone to learn is how to apply one or more of these tools - it is worth more than any external wealth...
- Rejoycing in other's happiness (lo-jong)
- Asking ourselves "can I be with what I am experiencing right now?" (R. Cushnir)
- Using our own difficult situations/intense experiences to break open rather than breaking down, through being with what we are experiencing (letting go of resistance, experiencing it fully)
- Using our own experience of pain to deepen our empathy with other's suffering
- Coming to our bodies and the present through yoga, Breema, tai chi, etc.
- Clarifying our mind through meditation practice (under guidance of a qualified teacher)
- Exploring and choosing actions that benefits others as well as ourselves
- Softening - letting go of attachments to habits, ideas, etc. through Breema, meditation, etc.
- Bringing more of ourselves into awareness through working with projections. Whatever I see in the outer world is also there in the inner world. When I experience attachments to anything in the outer world (attraction or aversion), I can use it as a reminder to explore and become familiar with those qualities in my self and my own life.
- Deepen our awareness of how we relate to the world. The way we relate to the outer world is also the way we relate to the inner world. The patterns I feed in how I relate to others, are the patterns strengthened in how I relate to myself. If I relate to others with empathy and compassion, I relate to my self with empathy and compassion. If I seek to benefit life, I seek to benefit others and myself. There is no separation.