The only way to relax with yourself is to open your heart. Then you have a chance to see who you are. This experience is like opening a parachute. When you jump out of an airplane and open the chute, you are there in the sky by yourself. Sometimes it is very frightening, but on the other hand, when you take this step, the whole situation, the whole journey, makes sense. You have to actually do it, and then you will understand. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery.)

Wishing you peace and well being as you open your chute.

PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_

In the middle of the road of my life
I awoke in a dark wood
where the true way was wholly lost. (Dante)

In three brief lines Dante say that the journey begins right here. In the middle of the road. Right beneath your feet. This is the place. There is no other place and no other time. Even if you are successful and follow the road you have set for yourself, you can never leave here. Despite everything you have achieved, life refuses to grant you, and always will refuse to grant you, immunity from its difficulties.

"One day, in the middle of everything, we awake and see our life as we have made it." (David Whyte. The Heart Aroused.)

Wishing you peace and well being as you wake to your life.

PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_

Mishaps are occurances, big or small, that jolt us back to the present moment. They can be small, annoying, or unexpected events that make us realize we are not paying attention to what is happening to us at the moment. How we regard them and choose to handle them is what makes them either a nuisance or an opportunity for growth. (Walt Hernandez. There Will Be Mishaps. Shambhala Times. August 29, 2009.)

Wishing you peace and well being as you work with your mishaps.

PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_