peace

Reading Time: 5 minutes Tonglen is an exceedingly simple meditative practice in which one visualizes taking in the suffering of oneself and others on the in-breath, and on the out-breath sending recognition, compassion, and relief. It involves being willing for those brief moments to “take on” the suffering of the world (or those specific people or groups that you have chosen to focus on) as you breath in, and then imagining that this suffering is being transmuted into goodness, love, compassion as you breath out, sending blessings and relief to those who are suffering.

Reading Time: 4 minutes Spiritual practices are not just for us. Spiritual practices and beliefs are personal, yes. Often we are born into specific belief systems and taught certain practices when we are very young. We then grow into adulthood and come to a place where we adopt those beliefs and practices by choice. We make them our own, or we don’t – we drop them and choose new beliefs and new practices, and our choices are deeply personal.

But as personal as those choices are, (I cannot choose yours and you cannot choose mine), we still do well to understand why we’ve chosen the specific beliefs and practices that we have.

Why?

I can’t answer that question for you. But I do want to ask it, of you, and of myself.