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\_

When a friend is in tremendous emotional or physical pain, sometimes we're afraid to go and be with him or her, or afraid of communicating honestly when we visit. We think we should know how to relieve our friend's pain, or have just the right things to say. Yet what a person who is suffering most needs is our presence. (The Wisdom of Listening. [Ed] Mark Brady.)

The Greek word for one who comforts is paraclete, literally meaning "one who comes to walk along side." Wishing you peace and well-being as you walk aside those who are suffering and in pain.

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

Courage is about being emotionally comfortable with ourselves - letting go of anger, arrogance, prestige, greed - and being honest with ourselves right here, right now, on the spot. (Michael Carroll. The Mindful Leader.)

Wishing you peace and well being as you discover and let go of arrogance, rigidness, and small-mindedness of all kinds.

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

Taking the leap involves making a commitment to ourselves and to the earth itself - making a commitment to let go of old grudges, to not avoid people and situations and emotions that make us feel uneasy, to not cling to our fears, our close-mindedness, our hardheartedness, our hesitation. Now is the time to develop trust in our basic goodness and the basic goodness of our sisters and brothers on this earth; a time to develop confidence in our ability to drop our old ways of staying stuck and to choose wisely. We could do that right here and right now. (Pema Chödrön. Taking the Leap.)

Wishing you peace and well being as you “take the leap.”

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

The only person who is consistently present, in every scene of that long-running drama we call our life, is ourselves. (James Hollis. Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life.)

Wishing you peace and well being as you recognize that you are also the author.

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

Life is not a problem to be solved but an experiment to be lived. (James Hollis, PhD.  Swamplands of the Soul.)

Wishing you peace and well being as you live your experiment.

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

Frequently our choices lie between the lesser of two evils, but it is still within our power to make these choices. You can try to avoid responsibility by trying to give your power, your freedom, to another person or organization or entity, but we choose every step and the manner in which we are going to respond. (M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled.)

Wishing you peace and well being as recognize that the choices you have are almost unlimited.

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

The key aspect of living together harmoniously is the discipline of each individual. When each individual has discipline and confidence, that begins to exude into the environment. (The Kongma Sakyong, Jampal Trinley Dradul.)

Wishing you peace and well being as you practice discipline and confidence.

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

We alone are the authors of our own story of existence, experience, and meaning.

Wishing you peace and well being as you address the question, "What am I really trying to accomplish?"

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

I learned that the highest individual achievements are never solo events, that you only reach your best with the help of other people, and their belief in you. (Nick Sagar. Upward Bound: Nine Original Accounts of How Business Leaders Reached Their Summits.)

Wishing you peace and well being as you discover your summits, with the help of others.

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

Change and growth takes place when a person has risked themselves and dares to become involved with experimenting with their own life. (Herbert A. Otto. Exploration in Human Potential)

Wishing you peace and well being as you risk, dare and experiment with your life.

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

Developing the capacity to let go allows us to be open and to allow something truly new to emerge.

Wishing you peace and well being as you surrender your perceived need to control.

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

The more loving-kindness we have toward ourselves, the more we have to give to others. The more compassion we have for ourselves, the more we have to give away.

Wishing you peace and well being as you cultivate love and compassion in yourself.

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

Remind yourself that this day is a gift, that it is wonderful to be alive, even if the day before you is busy and includes people and tasks you would rather not deal with. (Thomas Bien, Ph.D. Mindful Therapy).

Wishing you peace and well being as you practice patience with yourself and others.

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

A man was lost while driving through the country. As he tried to reach for the map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn’t injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. So the man walked to a nearby farm to ask for help.

“Warwick can get you out of that ditch,” said the farmer, pointing to an old mule standing in a field.

The man looked at the decrepit old mule and looked at the farmer who just stood there repeating, “Yep, old Warwick can do the job.” The man figured he had nothing to lose. The two men and the mule made their way back to the ditch. The farmer hitched the mule to the car. With a snap of the reins, he shouted, “Pull, Fred! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Warwick!” And the mule pulled that car right out of the ditch.

The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule, and asked, “Why did you call out all of those names before you called Warwick?”

The farmer grinned and said, “Old Warwick is just about blind. As long as he believes he’s part of a team, he doesn’t mind pulling.”

Fostering a spirit of teamwork is critical in times of change. The key element is trust. Trust for the leader and trust for each other.

Wishing you peace and well being as you trust each other.

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

The Tibetan work for vulnerable openness is jinpa, which means “complete generosity.” When we express jinpa – when we are intelligently open and vulnerable – we create the opportunity to genuinely lead and inspire others.

Wishing you peace and well being as you drop your protective armor and become more genuine.

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