AOM Meditation: 111620

Pont-Aven Woman and Child, 1886, Paul Gauguin

Thanks to our Friend, David, for sending us this beautiful art

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Know Yourself First

by Thich Nhat Hanh

Suppose two warring parties want to negotiate, and both sides do not know enough about themselves. You have to really know yourself, your country, your party, your situation, in order to understand the other’s party, the other’s nation, the other’s people. Self and others are not two separate things because the suffering, hope, and anger of both sides are very much the same.You must know yourself in order to understand someone else. 

When we get angry, we suffer. If you really understand that, you also will be able to understand that when the other person is angry, it means that he/she is suffering. When someone insults you or behaves violently towards you, you have to be intelligent enough to see that the person suffers from his own violence and anger. But we tend to forget. We think that we are the only one that suffers, and the other person is our oppressor. This is enough to make anger arise and to strengthen our desire to punish. We want to punish the other person because we suffer. Then, we have anger in us; we have violence in us, just as they do.

When we see that our suffering and anger are no different from their suffering and anger, we will behave more compassionately. So understanding the other person is understanding you, and understanding yourself is understanding the other person. Everything must begin with you.

Care for Your Anger

To understand ourselves, we must learn and practice the way of non-duality. We should not fight our anger because anger is our self – a part of our self. Anger is of an organic nature, like love. We have to take good care of anger. And because it is an organic entity; an organic phenomenon, it is possible to transform it into another organic entity. The garbage can be transformed back into compost, into lettuce, and into a cucumber. So don’t despise your anger. Don’t fight your anger, and don’t suppress your anger. Learn the tender way of taking care of your anger, and transform it into the energy of understanding and compassion.

AOM Meditations: 020320

The cliffs of Le-Bouille (1884) by Paul Gauguin

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"Before you speak to me about your religion, 

first show it to me in how you treat other people; 

before you tell me how much you love your God, 

show me in how much you love all His children; 

before you preach to me of your passion for your faith, 

teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors. 

In the end, 

I’m not as interested in what you have to tell or sell 

as in how you choose to live and give."

~Cory Booker

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“Don't spend your precious time asking 

"Why isn't the world a better place?" 

It will only be time wasted. 

The question to ask is, 

"How can I make it better?" 

To that there is an answer.”

~Leo Buscaglia

AOM Meditations: 110719

The cliffs of Le-Bouille (1884) Paul Gauguin

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“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”

~John Lennon

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Meditations: 052119

Three Tahitian Women, 1896, Paul Gauguin

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“You have brains in your head. 

You have feet in your shoes. 

You can steer yourself 

any direction you choose. 

You're on your own. 

And you know what you know. 

And YOU are the one 

who'll decide where to go...” 

~Dr. Seuss

(Oh, The Places You'll Go!)

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“Life isn't about 

finding yourself. 

Life is about 

creating yourself.” 

~George Bernard Shaw

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“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” 

~Marianne Williamson

AOM Meditations: 071917

 by Paul Gauguin

Thanks to our Friend for sending up this beautiful art

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