What About Me

We dedicated August to the inquiry of imprints. What touches us lightly, marks us deeply and what imprints do we leave in the world we walk in? So often we get consumed by demands of our basic lives, from peers, family, loves, employers, technology and the list goes on. All the pressure from others still barely touches the Richter scale of the damage created by our very own self critic. That lovely inner voice that likes to keep us on our anxious toes. Can you relate? I was reminded recently of a beautiful video that touched me years ago and I've shared it in workshops many times since. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is a high lama of Tibetan lineage. He's also a poet, an artist and delivered this beautiful message through rapping. A monk-rapper.. worth watching on that note alone. All humans want to be happy. Yet somehow we complicate the simple path to presence and connection so much we lose the very sight of joy and even self. As an exercise, I'd love you to sit comfortably in a relaxed meditation mode and watch this 6 minute video that inspires a shift in thinking from 'what about me' to 'what about you'. A clear path to set your heart free.

Sometimes when I would be walking into the studio distracted by the thoughts of tasks and projects dispersed over seven clip boards, frustrated and full of angst, I'd start a walking mindful practice inspired by this video. Every person and animal that would pass me, I'd whisper to myself "may you be happy." By the time I encountered the lives of twenty or fifty faces that I passed in a state of loving kindness, my suffering would had been eliminated and I'd feel free, in the moment, and full of gratitude. What touches you? What do you leave behind? Could it be of love?