When Things Fall Apart:

Heart advice for difficult times

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, it is said that when one's embodiment of wisdom has matured, compassion and caring radiate most when times are dire, just as a bonfire doesn't get blown out by a stormy gust of wind, but burns ever brighter.

I don't need to list the number of intense sources of stress, division, and conflict that impact all of us around the world today - you're living it. But what I do want to share is that, after 31 years of dedicated inner work with renowned teachers, I've learned that our awareness practice has the greatest potential to evolve into love and timeless presence during those times that we're in crisis.

To guide us through the end of summer and into the start of winter, beloved Buddhist mindfulness teacher, Pema Chodron, will be our lamp of clarity as we read and practice from her seminal classic, "When Things Fall Apart". In her most direct writing, she explains how it's when our usual ways of coping no longer keep us in the status quo that we can peer deeply into our emotion intelligence and realize our deepest potential.

A Zen saying admonishes us to practice like our hair's on fire; it may be we don't need to pretend as if. Let's get to work, together.