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Have you ever noticed just how ineffective and indeed counter-productive is the exhortation to “cheer up?” Being told to cheer up, be happy, etc, when one is feeling sad or out of sorts can just make one feel worse.
The exhortations that work are those that remind us of that for which we are grateful or that which we love, and those the remind us of or call us to the practices the result of which is to alleviate suffering.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Avilokitesvara– god(dess) of compassion had one head and two arms. Zhe didn’t have enough ears to listen to all the stories of suffering, so one of the buddhas busted one head into eleven. Avilokitesvara’s two arms broke from the weight of helping, but instead of two arms broken and worn out, two arms broke into a thousand arms.
In the middle of another
11-hour work day, not
Counting the time to
commute, the commute
Being the round trip walk
From home during which I
have been practicing japa–
Maha mrtyunjaya mantra–
For dear spirits recently
No longer in this body.
In between the work,
Between those walks,
I stopped. I stopped
and smelled the roses.
Thus refreshed by visual
Beauty and warm sun
And intoxicating scent,
I had the energy to begin
Again–to continue,
To work well.