Connecting to a larger view, we begin to conquer small-mindedness. No longer is our mind so cluttered by negativity. We keep meditating, contemplating, and trying to apply virtue in our daily life because doing so seems to make a difference. Our life is making more sense. At first perhaps it felt like drudgery to stick with our training, but now we do it because we enjoy it.

We see how not harming ourselves and others frees us from confusion.

- from Ruling Your World, by Sakyong Mipham p.89-90

When meditation is mastered, the mind is

unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless

place. In the still mind, in the depths of meditation,

the Self reveals itself.

The practice of meditation frees one from

all affliction. This is the path of yoga. Follow it

with determination and sustained enthusiasm.

Little by little, through patience and repeated

effort, the mind will become stilled in the Self.

Wherever the mind wanders, restless and diffuse

in its search for meaning without, lead it within;

train it to rest in the Self.

- the Bhagavad Gita, translated by Eknath Easwaran, excerpts from Chapter 6

In contemplation, we practice pointing ourselves in a particular direction and staying there for awhile. When we hold our mind to something, it has no alternative but to get more familiar with that place.

- from Ruling Your World, by Sakyong Miphamy p.109-110

Can I stay still? How still? It is astonishing how many people cannot, or will not, hold still.

If I freeze, locking my muscles, I will tire and break. Instead of going rigid, I go calm. I center down wherever I am; I find a balance and repose. I retreat- not inside myself, but outside myself, so that I am a tissue of senses. Whatever I see is plenty, abundance. I am the skin of water the wind plays over; I am petal, feather, stone.

- From Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard p.203

We can begin anything we do- start our day, eat a meal, or walk into a meeting- with the intention to be open, flexible, and kind. Then we can proceed with an inquisitive attitude. As my teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche used to say, "Live your life as an experiment."

At the end of the activity, whether we feel we have succeeded or failed in our intention, we seal the act by thinking of others, of those who are succeeding and failing all over the world. We wish that anything we learned in our experiment could also benefit them.

- from The Places That Scare You, by Pema Chodron p.1-2

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make the world.

Speak or act with an impure mind

And trouble will follow you

As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart...

Speak or act with a pure mind

And happiness will follow you

As your shadow, unshakable.

-The Buddha

From Lovingkindness, by Sharon Salzberg p.70

The thought manifests as the word;

The word manifests as the deed;

The deed develops into habit;

And habit hardens into character.

So watch the thought and its ways with care,

And let it spring from love

Born out of concern for all beings.

-The Buddha

Taken from Lovingkindness, by Sharon Salzberg p. 83