Wonder Day - Tara Brach

The ongoing evolution that seems to be happening through this bodymind is an awakening of loving awareness…the more it emerges, the more my prayer is to live from that presence, to “be” that loving. Often that takes the form of seeing our shared vulnerability and holding with care, and seeing the beauty and goodness that lives through all of us.

While the evolution feels like grace (not a self doing something) there seems a natural draw to serving and savoring; to quieting, letting be and to prayer, that this heart and mind continue awakening.  I’m inspired by the following, from the poet Hafiz:

Ask the Friend for love, ask him again.
For I have found that every heart will get what it prays for most.

Tara Brach - meditation teacher, author, and clinical psychologist

Find her on Facebook.
(First published 1.16.14)

Wonder Day 10.15.15

I wanna have more peace and love.  - high school student, Texas  USA

Wonder Day 7.15.15

I, being a relatively sentimental person, would like to do two major actions in my life that I hope would change it for the better.

The first of these two things would be to work up enough courage to talk to the first and so far only person outside my family that I had feelings for and hopefully come to a resolution with her because as things currently stand, nothing has happened and the close friendship we once had is gone, and probably will never be the same again. I hope that by getting closure on this subject I will stop thinking about it and it will cease to be a point of pain.

The second action, relating to the first, would be to find someone else I can care about and talk to like I did prior, and I hope that by doing so it will bring positivity and joy to my life and also help me forget the old wounds and hurts. - high school student, Florida

Wonder Day 5.25.15

I want to learn to forgive my mother. 

I feel that if I can learn to forgive, truthfully, I may be able to move on; to end the pointless warfare: to rebuild the family. A multitude of past occurrences have embittered me towards her, but I see recently that she is often attempting to act more just. 

Unfortunately, the environment of my home for the past few years has created a set of defensive walls which surround me at all time: I am now a part of the proliferation of mistreatment. 

I wish to grasp a means by which I can return to loving her as a son loves his mother so that she can fully love me. The change must be gradual, for it is not within my power to simply absolve her for all prior mistreatment. 

The first steps which I've been taking include apologizing when I recognize I am out of line, despite the resentment which urges me to continue fighting. Soon, I will have to learn to drop arguments sooner, eventually, I will be able to forget the past. - high school student, Florida

Wonder Day 1.8.15 - Samika Swift

I am changing the way I speak - to my loved ones, to strangers, to myself. Each day I spend 15 minutes saying “I love you” to me. Then I practice saying I love you to others, though I don't often use those exact words. Instead, I work at being present with my intentions, tone of voice, vocabulary, and body language. When I forget, I love myself anyway.  

Samika Swift – drawing by her son, Joshua