by Madeline Ko-i Bastis. When we quiet the mind, our transgressions emerge from the shadows and we become sensitive to our interaction with others. A turning point presents itself. Though we feel regret at having caused harm, there may still be a niggling voice whispering that our actions were necessary. Tit for tat; he deserved that...

My strongest memories of my father are of him leaving for work. There was something important about the ritual of him preparing for work. He was off to do important things. He was off to do business, to work, to provide for us. If his leaving in the morning was an important ritual, waiting for Dad to come home had an air of expectation. Did he have a good day? Or a bad one?

The first among the six perfections is generosity. Generosity is of three types: giving material aid, giving dharma, and protecting from fear. 'Giving dharma' refers to the giving of teachings to other sentient beings out of the pure motivation to benefit them. Giving away one's own possessions without even the slightest touch of miserliness...

We all have the deep-seated belief that if we practice long and hard enough, our problems will disappear. And beneath that hidden belief lies an even deeper one: that life should be free from pain. But, we will always have difficulties. We will always have eighty-three problems.

Our childhood programming often keeps us from making our life work. How can we create happiness in our life? Making your life work means freeing yourself from your ego and rational mind that have kept you trapped in playing out the security, sensation, and power demands that you programmed into your big-computer during the first few years of your life.

Nature is a great teacher. Its natural cycles demonstrate important truths about life and renewal. Every year, deciduous trees must drop their leaves so that new life can form. If the leaves did not fall, the tree could not renew itself. It is that simple. What can this cycle teach us?

For many years, I never watched TV. I remember my TV breaking down and as I placed it out with the garbage, deciding not to buy another one. So in those days, I was not watching the news, or anything else on TV. This went on for many years.

Every day we make choices. Some seem simple, some seem complex. What will I eat for breakfast? What will I say to this person? How will I react to this situation? Some choices we make without even thinking about it, and sometimes we are simply remaking a choice we made a long time ago.

Most people's pictures of reality are fear-based and limiting, and do not serve us. Yet we take them home and replicate them in our own lives, to the point that we believe they're our own. Then we wonder why we, and the people we know, are so unhappy.

We all want to be happy! At least, we all say we do... yet, how much happiness can we handle? How much happiness are we willing to have in our lives before we sabotage ourselves? Let's look for a minute at...

As I was washing the dishes this morning, I remembered how I used to "hate" washing the dishes. To me, it was always equated with a task that I "have to do", not one that I "choose" to do. This led me to reflect on other such situations in...