THiNKSPOT

09/08/2023

Epic summer nights at THiNKSPOT 💗

06/03/2023

Try our Lowville Bistro before the concert - Always delicious food and drink to be had - A Piece of Heaven on 🌎 Earth
https://lowvillebistro.ca/
LUNCH: 12PM-4PM DINNER: 5PM-9PM

06/01/2023

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/dancing-drumming-dreaming-tickets-643093970377?fbclid=IwAR3KgrZQaolR_1pucUlo0cLvTs9JpQ59BTtMdz4dfh7ieQ3CjEsbCIKccSE_aem_th_Af6Hcp2sRtSTKBxl5YWTi3scBh0zmLXDqxCYHEvBB45nR_WouQ0joNIRoPdOxK9X8b4&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Click poster for tickets

05/29/2023

04/30/2023

‘The Changing Season’

A colourful collaboration with John Rombough reminds me of the importance of relationships and the beauty that surrounds us.

Robbie

04/16/2023

Happy Birthday Deb Pickfield! 🎉🎂
From your friends at THiNKSPOT and Everywhere! We 🥰 Love You
(Deb catching a long overdue rest while bathed in sound and sunshine 🎶🎼)

04/16/2023

Thank you Sandbox Sisters for the soundbathing experience this morning. A beautiful way to reconnect to ourselves.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089792322861

Event planner

04/16/2023

Beautiful morning for Soundbathing withGuelph The Sandbox Sisters, surrounded with nature at THiNKSPOT

04/12/2023

The Cabin is opening this Sunday April 16th at THiNKSPOT- come join us for Sunday Morning SoundScape. RSVP required since weather forecast is rain and seating is limited to 15 people. Sorry - we have zero control over the weather!! 🥲 Yes - this is a picture from last summer and that is OK - spring is here and the grass is green!

04/12/2023

Join us Sunday April 16th from 10:30 am to noon where we open The Cabin with a fire burning in the woodstove and listen to the Sunday SoundScape by Charissa and Katie the Sandbox Sisters from Guelph. Hot drinks, comfy chairs, warm fire to be provided. Event is complimentary as a way to welcome Charissa and Katie to the re-launch of Sunday morning events at THiNKSPOT in partnership with Lowville Festival. Future dates still TBD.

03/16/2023

Come celebrate the last day of March Break before the final season for school. All ages and stages welcome - s'mores and hot chocolate for the child in all of us!

02/15/2023

Please walk our garden and leave us a message on the blackboard

01/16/2023

01/16/2023

12/15/2022

Thanks for the event shares and ❤️

12/13/2022

There is something beautiful unfolding for this year's Winter Solstice 2022. Please join us for an evening of magic, wonder and community on Wednesday, December 21 from 6pm to 8:30pm.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/2022-thinkspot-and-lowville-festival-winter-solstice-celebration-tickets-481648984077?fbclid=IwAR0sGQxPQSJ1LFU5xxbtDs0DIb_rHi1Z15P5a57xbA3uXcd9a4nw334ZQHg

There will be a special fire lighting ceremony at 4:47pm so all are welcome to the garden between 4pm and 6pm.

Send a message to learn more

12/14/2021

Hard to believe it's a message from ThinkSpot!! Very grateful for a lot of work over the past year - and in particular Humber College where being part of an amazing team looking to do impactful work has been an exceptional gift.

That aside - the Winter Solstice is one week from today and yes we are doing something!

We will offer two different sessions during the day and both will be grounded in ThinkSpot Way... The Journey of Uncertainty. Very much looking forward to sharing this with everyone.

The first session is limited to six people and will be indoors running from 10am to 1pm - the actual solstice begins at 10:48am and it's when we will light the outdoor fire. Proof of double vaccination will be required for this session.

The second session is open to everyone (all ages and stages) and runs from 4pm to 6pm. This session will be outdoors and would ask people to wear masks as it may be difficult to be 2m apart. All crafts will be sanitized and handed out individually.

Please RSVP through the Eventbrite links below. Reservations are mandatory. As always - please bring a donation to reflect your enjoyment of the experience ($10 to $20 per person suggested). 100% of the donations will purchase handwarmers from Costco and donated to Men's Street Ministry to share with individuals experiencing homelessness.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Debra

Session 1 - 10am to 1pm - 6 participants only
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/thinkspot-2022-winter-solstice-10am-to-1pm-fire-lighting-and-workshop-tickets-227946342647

Session 2 - 4pm to 6pm - unlimited participants

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/thinkspot-2022-winter-solstice-outdoor-celebration-tickets-227972029477

Join us as we light the Winter Solstice fire and be part of a small group workshop around the Journey of Uncertainty.

02/24/2021

One of the items on my To Do List - and it eventually became so far removed from the Winter Solstice 2020 that I didn't write about it - was to share that $803 was donated at the Winter Solstice and 100% of the funds were provided to Boyd of
's Street Ministry in support of people experiencing homelessness. This was on top of the boxes of handwarmers provided before the Winter Solstice (there is an earlier post about that if you want to read about it - it was an amazing synchronicity moment). Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the amazing cash donations - it far exceeded anything we expected.

So I'm writing now to ask everyone a favour. Tomorrow morning at 7:30am (Thursday February 25th) the four Rotary Clubs in Burlington are virtually recognizing four individuals for the Paul Harris Fellow Recognition Award: Roger Boyd on behalf of MSM, along with David Vandenberg, Beth Martin, and Mary Dilly, for their amazing community work The details are below and I can only imagine how 'chuffed' it might be for everyone to be supported virtually as a way of a big Shout Out thanking them for all they do in building stronger roots in our communities. We can do this from the comfort of our homes (it might mean changing our routine a bit tomorrow morning) yet it would be a great way to honour all of their contributions... and small things on our part might mean a lot.

Register in advance for this online Zoom event: Register Here

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6RxkEphjSIy-bVhjdbybUA

Award recipients this year are:

David Vandenberg – Operations Manager, Meal Bag Program
Beth Martin - Managing Director, Grow a Row
Roger Boyd - Founder, Men’s Street Ministry
Mary Dilly - Founder, Season of Giving, Christmas Dinner


When: Thursday, February 25, 2021,
Time: 7:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Paul Harris Fellow Award Ceremony

12/22/2020

Magical. Connected. Real. Three words to describe the Winter Solstice celebration today at ThinkSpot. Will write more tomorrow, yet for now wanted to share the words below of Cathy Cole, who as an amazing trooper showed up at 4:50am along with Kune Hua, and Anthony DiDomenico, and Darcie Pytel at 6AM; to experience the silent intimacy as we began creating light through fire and candles in the morning darkness, and watched the sky ever so slowly turn to grey from black.

Still in awe of the day and look forward to sharing more tomorrow.

Much love

Debra

From Cathy Cole

Winter Solstice Celebration 2020 at Thinkspot in Lowville was ushered in by an absolutely beautiful December morning. Out of the dark comes the light. I woke at 4, got dressed, walked down the lane, over the bridge and around the corner and I arrived at 5. I was in time to observe the lighting of the fire that helped to welcome the dawn of the shortest day of the year. It is also fitting to acknowledge that the shortest day of the year also means the beginning of longer days ahead. We often forget to remember that there are reasons for seasonal changes. Instead of wishing them gone, perhaps we can try to welcome the changes and accept their significance on our planet earth. But I digress. Where was I? The fire was a place to pay my respects to my fellow human beings, to honour those who suffer, to let go of something I grieved. By throwing a thing, or things, of our choosing onto the fire, we observe them burn, we see the ashes rise and experience a symbolic rebirth and release. Beautiful little tea lights were placed lovingly on a spiral of cedar boughs and lit its path as the arc tightened and gracefully wound its way to the centre stone in the sculpture garden...where we came face to face with our own reflection in a mirror. Who are we anyway? A somber pause allowed self reflection for a few minutes and then a slow return back to the fire let this percolate. We then prepared for our sunrise walk through Lowville Park. We left, we greeted the dawn, we felt kinship with the few who came to share the early morning and we returned again to embrace the full light of day in the garden. How different it now looked on the surface, but I knew it was all one and the same - in the dark and in the light - because I was there. I cast my gaze across the day lit garden for final few moments. And then I walked home to greet my own day - and my dogs who had clearly wondered where I had been going so early in the morning. Thank you to Debra for always making it right. Thinking too, of my friend Elaine, who loved all the solstice celebrations and who left us too soon... we really do have much to be grateful for... 🧡

12/18/2020

One of my favourite expressions is "I can't make this stuff up" (sometimes using a four letter word for stuff - starts with s ends with t)... anyways... yesterday I decided to follow the internal nudges I was getting and go down to Costco and buy handwarmers for Men's Street Ministry since the weather is so cold and why on earth would I wait until next week?

Guess what! Roger Boyd of MSM just gave out the last packages of handwarmers on Monday (3 days earlier) - from the donation provided in January 2020 from the 2019 winter solstice! Here are the photos from January 2020 (12 boxes) and yesterday at the Costco parking lot (based on this year signups and donations we purchased 18 boxes).

Thanks everyone for being part of this caring for people needing a little bit of warmth in this freezing weather.

Much love
Debra

12/09/2020

Hello everyone

Yes it has been extremely quiet from me for the past eight months. Wanted to respect that right now it was OK to be in a liminal space working and building towards a time when we could begin connecting physically again.

I love the word liminal even though I have to look up the definition each time... and it seems very appropriate for 2020. The word “liminal” comes from the Latin root, limen, which means “threshold.” The liminal space is the “crossing over” space – a space where you have left something behind, yet you are not yet fully in something else. It's a transition space. (transformationalpresence.org)

With the Winter Solstice coming up it felt like the right time to create a unique Solstice, respecting Covid, where we are separate yet together.

To that end a group of us have created a day from 5am (winter solstice begins at 5:02am officially) to 8pm where we can come together at ThinkSpot by reservation only and beginning each hour for 45 minutes. Please check out the event listing here on our FB page.

I'm sure most of you have heard by now that this year on December 21st marks a special lunar event where Jupiter and Saturn will have their closest 'observable conjunction' since 1226 (yup - almost 800 years ago). Thanks Tim Szumlanski for the earthsky.org link. Feel free to bring your telescope if you are coming after 5pm on December 21st.

Missing the opportunities to get together at ThinkSpot in this oasis of Lowville. Much love to everyone..

Debra

05/21/2020

Would you watch?

Award-winning health journalist Shannon Harvey faced a troubling paradox. Despite unprecedented progress in modern medicine, 140 million people around the wo...

05/02/2020

The Great Real-isation

A bed time story of how it started, and why hindsight’s 2020. 🛌 🧸 Music by Katie Phillips / Sound Design by Sam Gee Facebook: Probably Tomf...

04/28/2020

Jellies.

The stunning scene was captured by a biologist that works in Venice

04/24/2020

hello all - we are taking a break from our normal last-Sunday-morning-of-the-month Mindful Meditation with Greg Klym. Greg has a number of mindfulness offerings through-out the month that you can catch on his FB page. Hope everyone is staying mindfully well and able to navigate this period of everything being turned around and discombobulating (always loved that word). Whenever I feel discombobulated, I like to think about six months from now looking back at myself now, and what would that future self say to me now....??? A bit of a mindbender... and before I know it.... not really sure what I was out-of-sorts about. 😏😏

Take care
Debra

04/14/2020

“When you hug [a tree], you feel it first in your toes and then up your legs and into your chest and then up into your head,” enthuses forest ranger Þór Þorfinnsson. “It’s such a wonderful feeling of relaxation and then you’re ready for a new day and new challenges.”

The Icelandic Forestry Service is encouraging people to hug trees while social distancing measures prevent them from hugging other people, RÚV reports. Forest rangers in the Hallormsstaður National Forest in East Iceland have been diligently clearing snow-covered paths to ensure that locals can en...

04/10/2020

Widespread social-distancing measures have produced some jarring effects across land, air, and sea.

04/10/2020

Riya Sokol - ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ ᴏғ "ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ, ᴄᴏʀᴏɴᴀᴠɪʀᴜs" ᴘᴏᴇᴍ. Not sure who created the video though...if you know who did, please let me know so I can give the…

04/08/2020

“We can see the snow-covered mountains clearly from our roofs. And not just that, stars are visible at night. I have never seen anything like this in recent times,” says Mr Seechewal, who has been working to raise awareness of environmental pollution for over 30 years.

As the lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus in India continues, pollution levels across much of the country have dropped sharply. Now some residents in northern India say they can see the snow-capped Himalayas 200 kilometres away for the first time in 30 years.

04/06/2020

Discovering Bodhichitta; Discovering our Soft Spot

On the Saturday zoom call for Discovering Bodhichitta there was a line from the reading “share the wealth of this unfathomable human experience”. Both Karen and Michael expressed how these words were about sharing our creativity. Whether it’s a meal we prepare, an idea we explore with a friend, or coming together to discuss bodhichitta on a zoom call,😊 it all sets the stage to share creativity. Even when our worlds are turned upside down, creativity can come to life - for ourselves and others. Reminds me of the line someone shared "what is the gift I can give to my future self"? We are all worth finding a way to express our creativity as a gift to our future selves and to others. 😊

Be well.
Xoxo
Debra
PS - the photo was late May 2019 - not that far away!

Readings for Monday April 6th zoom call 5:00pm to 5:15pm https://zoom.us/j/471728696 all welcome

“When Things Fall Apart” Chapter 14 by Pema Chödrön

"At the relative level, our noble heart is felt as kinship with all beings. At the absolute level, we experience it as groundlessness or open space.

Because bodhichitta gives us no ground, it cuts through our concepts and ideals. We can’t make it into a project of becoming a “good person” or the one you can always count on to be there. It’s far more uncertain than that.

Because bodhichitta awakens tenderness, we can’t use it to distance ourselves. Bodhichitta can’t be reduced to an abstraction about the emptiness of pain. We can’t get away with saying “There is nothing happening and nothing to do.”

The relative and absolute work together to connect us with unlimited love. Compassion and shunyata are the qualities of a love that will not die."

04/05/2020

Discovering Bodhichitta; Discovering our Soft Spot

The Friday call had us sharing about how our behaviours and values are evolving during this time of self-isolation – and not always pleasant feelings – at some points we feel anger when we can’t play the power game (somehow 3M medical supplies being redirected without the consent of the country that ordered and paid for them).

Then we tried to have a soft spot (bodhichitta) for the people making these decisions and sensing what they are experiencing. If we can have empathy then we can build bridges; if we judge we build walls.

Mini soapbox today 😊
Xoxo
Debra

Readings for Sunday April 5th zoom call 5:00pm to 5:15pm https://zoom.us/j/471728696 all welcome

“When Things Fall Apart” Chapter 14 by Pema Chödrön
A man who had been sexually abused as a baby begins to have complete recall. Without knowing where the inspiration comes from, he begins to breathe in all the pain of that terrified and helpless infant. Then he breathes in the pain of all babies everywhere, babies who are just barely surviving because of neglect, abuse, disease, and war. Out of nowhere, he discovers bodhichitta.

Awakened heart can always be discovered like that. It does not take gearing up or struggling to achieve. When strategies are not yet formed and we feel uncertain about which way to turn, in those moments of vulnerability, bodhichitta is always there. It manifests as basic openness, which Buddhists call shunyata. It manifests as basic tenderness, basic compassionate warmth. When we walk around like we’re expecting to be attacked, we block it. When we release the tension between this and that, the struggle between us and them, that’s when bodhichitta will emerge.

04/04/2020

On Thursday’s zoom call we talked about tonglen and how it’s the practice of breathing in the pain that we come across; and breathe out the happiness that we experience. Someone once shared that if we count to four as we breathe in and count to six as we breath out, it’s a good breathing rhythm. That seems like a doable pattern – counting to four as we breathe in pain; counting to six as we send out happiness.
No soapbox today. 😊

Xoxo
Debra

Readings for Saturday April 4th zoom call 5:00 pm to 5:15 pm

https://zoom.us/j/471728696 all welcome

“When Things Fall Apart” Chapter 14 by Pema Chödrön

When we breathe in pain, somehow it penetrates that armor. The way we guard ourselves is getting softened up. This heavy, rusty, creaking armour begins to seem not so monolithic after all. With the in-breath the armour begins to fall apart, and we find we can breathe deeply and relax. A kindness and a tenderness begin to emerge. We don’t have to tense up as if our whole life were being spent in the dentist’s chair.

When we breathe out relief and spaciousness, we are also encouraging the armor to dissolve. The out-breath is a metaphor for opening our whole being. When something is precious, instead of holding it tightly, we can open our hands and share it. We can give it all away. We can share the wealth of this unfathomable human experience

04/03/2020

The McGill Mindfulness Research Lab is conducting an online study to validate new mindfulness and compassion questionnaires. The study should take approximately 90 minutes. All participants will be entered in a draw to receive a total of 25 to 30 prizes of $120 each in gift cards to Amazon, Indigo, Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Cineplex, or Best Buy.

To participate, please click on: https://www.mcgill.ca/mmrl/research/get-involved and follow the instructions or go directly to the survey: https://surveys.mcgill.ca/ls/637464?lang=en)

04/03/2020

Our zoom call on Wednesday April 1st (readings were in the posting March 31st) went in an unexpected direction (for me anyways).

The conversation began exploring how to hold bodhichitta for someone who is causing pain; not only for the person who is experiencing pain. OK then. Now it’s harder.

Then a story close to home was shared. Nearby there is a well-loved park that is closed to any parking or guests. Two homeowners saw someone squat and have a BM (being polite here) on the grass and then walk away. My first response was shock and indignation. Then the bodhichitta response annoyingly came to mind… what if the person had travelled a long way and then arrived to find everything closed including the public washrooms and nothing available since so many places are closed; what if they had IBS and when you have to go, you gotta go? I then realized bodhichitta is also the opportunity to suspend judgement and simply recognize what the person is experiencing, and the act of tonglen (it’s in the reading from April 1st) is to send out love without conditions. OK then. This will take me years, probably decades. ☹

xoxo
Debra

Readings for Friday April 3rd zoom call https://zoom.us/j/471728696 - all are welcome – we have no idea where the conversations will go 😊

“When Things Fall Apart” Chapter 14 by Pema Chödrön

“Many people who are dying of AIDS have begun to do tonglen. They breathe in for all the others in the same boat. They breathe in the suffering of millions of men, women, and children who have AIDS. They breathe out a wellness, a kindness. As one man said, “It doesn’t hurt me. It makes me feel that my pain is not in vain, that I am not alone and useless. It makes all of this worthwhile.”

When we protect ourselves so we won’t feel pain, that protection becomes like armour, like armour that imprisons the softness of the heart. We do everything we can think of not to feel anything threatening. We try to prolong feeling good about ourselves. Looking at colour pictures in magazines of people having fun on the beach, many of us earnestly wish that life could be that good.”

04/01/2020

Readings at the end for Thursday April 2nd 5:00pm to 5:15pm
Zoom call https://zoom.us/j/471728696 - all are welcome to join – no practice necessary!

Tuesday’s call was interesting and I’m sharing it since I often find “platitudes” (for lack of a better word) can be off-putting especially when we are deep in the muck of struggles.

We were discussing the concept of “unwise selfish people and wise selfish people” from the reading. I struggled with that concept as personal support workers, health care providers, or employees of grocery stores - are showing up each day in a way I would describe as unselfish.

Karen suggested the language might be people who are “wise in their self” or “unwise in their self”. If we are wise in ourselves we can see our work (even incredibly risky work) as part of everything being inter-connected and inter-dependent – so we are open to doing the work from a place of service and compassion. If we are unwise in ourselves we come from a place of fear, control, and independent.

That made sense to me – and to all those “wise in self” people – thank you for everything you do while the rest of us self-isolate. As suggested in a New York Times article any individual continuing to work in high risk situations should receive a significant payment of $10,000 USD to $20,000 USD for the risks they are taking during this crisis. I would love a politician to show bodhichitta for what these amazing people are role modeling for all of us.

OK - off my soapbox. Thanks for patiently reading.
xoxo.

Debra

“When Things Fall Apart” Chapter 14 by Pema Chödrön

"Tonglen is a practice of creating space, ventilating the atmosphere of our lives to that people can breathe freely and relax. Whenever we encounter suffering in any form, the tonglen instruction is to breathe it in with the wish that everyone could be free of pain. Whenever we encounter happiness in any form, the instruction is to breathe it out, send it out, with the wish that everyone could feel joy. It’s a practice that allows people to feel less burdened and less cramped, a practice that shows us how to love without conditions.

Bo and Sita Lozoff have been helping people in prison for over twenty years. They teach meditation, they give talks, and in books and newsletters they give earthy and inspiring spiritual advice. Every day their mailbox is packed with letters from people doing time. Every day they answer as many as they can. Sita told me that sometimes those letters would be so filled with misery that she would feel overwhelmed. Then, without ever having heard of tonglen, she just naturally began breathing in all the pain in those letters and sending out relief."

03/31/2020

Friendly reading for the day from From “When Things Fall Apart” by Pema Chödrön, Chapter 14. Added an extra paragraph today since yesterday was only one paragraph (although long), Previous readings from Friday March 27th until today are in the earlier posts.

Hope you can join us.

Debra

Readings for Wednesday April 1st 5:00pm to 5:15pm

Join URL: https://zoom.us/j/471728696

“When we see a woman and her child begging on the street, when we see a man mercilessly beating his terrified dog, when we see a teenager who has been badly beaten or see fear in the eyes of a child, do we turn away because we can’t bear it? Most of us probably do. Someone needs to encourage us not to brush aside what we feel, not to be ashamed of the love and grief it arouses in us, not to be afraid of pain. Someone needs to encourage us that this soft spot in us could be awakened and that to do this would change our lives.

The practice of tonglen – sending and receiving – is designed to awaken bodhichitta, to put us in touch with genuine noble heart. It is a practice of taking in pain and sending out pleasure and therefore completely turns around our well-established habit of doing just the opposite.

Tonglen is a practice of creating space, ventilating the atmosphere of our lives so that people can breathe freely and relax. Whenever we encounter suffering in any form, the tonglen instruction is to breathe it in with the wish that everyone could be free of pain. Whenever we encounter happiness in any form, the instruction is to breathe it out, send it out, with the wish that everyone could feel joy. It's a practice that allows people to feel less burdened and less cramped, a practice that shows us how to love without conditions.

03/30/2020

Day 4 of our two paragraph reading from Chapter 14 of "When Things Fall Apart" by Pema Chodron. Each day from 5:00pm to 5:15pm we host a zoom call at

https://zoom.us/j/471728696

where we read the two paragraphs, chat a few minutes about how that resonates (or doesn't) and then we spend the final few minutes feeling the pain touch us and then express compassion. Anyone can join and you don't have to have been part of an earlier call.

Changing things up a little bit and sending out the reading for the next day - so in this case Tuesday March 31st. The reading from yesterday we are doing today since Michael Williams yesterday shared some beautiful words from the end of the chapter about how bodhichitta is available anytime, anywhere... whether a simple task of brushing our hair, or noticing nature doing what it does so naturally, or through music, dance, art, or poetry.

Sending everyone gratitude for expressing their appreciation for the posts. In the strangest way it feels so connected in our time of social isolation.

Take care.
xoxo

Debra

Tuesday's reading:
"We think that by protecting ourselves from suffering we are being kind to ourselves. The truth is, we only become more fearful, more hardened, and more alienated. We experience ourselves as being separate from the whole. This separateness becomes like a prison for us, a prison that restricts us to our personal hopes and fears and to caring only for the people nearest to us. Curiously enough, if we primarily try to shield ourselves from discomfort, we suffer. Yet when we don't close off and we let our hearts break, we discover our kinship with all beings. His Holiness the Dalai Lama describes two kinds of selfish people: the unwise and the wise. Unwise selfish people think only of themselves, and the result is confusion and pain. Wise selfish people know that the best thing they can do for themselves is to be there for others. As a result, they experience joy.

03/30/2020

The healing powers of music on the brain deserve to be recognized and above all heard. Where does music live in the human brain? How and in what form, does a…

03/29/2020

Discovering Bodhichitta; Discovering our Soft Spot Sunday March 29th

Some beautiful insights have been shared the past two days:

empathy has often been referred to as weakness; empathy may likely be perceived as necessary in the future; the beauty of being able to hold both pain and compassion/empathy in ourselves at the same time if we don’t stay attached to either; the gift of being fully present which allows us to “have the world touch our heart”.

Today's reading from “When Things Fall Apart" by Pema Chödrön. Zoom call today at 5:00pm to 5:15pm – hope you can join us. Links are in the event post on March 27th. Previous readings are in the daily posts.

Debra

“It is said that in difficult times, it is only bodhichitta that heals. When inspiration has become hidden, when we feel ready to give up, this is the time when healing can be found in the tenderness of pain itself. This is the time to touch the genuine heart of bodhichitta. In the midst of loneliness, in the midst of fear, in the middle of feeling misunderstood and rejected is the heartbeat of all things, the genuine heart of sadness.

Just as a jewel that has been buried in the earth for a million years is not discoloured or harmed, in the same way this noble heart is not affected by all of our kicking and screaming. The jewel can be brought out into the light at any time, and it will glow as brilliantly as if nothing had ever happened. No matter how committed we are to unkindness, selfishness, or greed, the genuine heart of bodhichitta cannot be lost. It is here in all that lives, never marred and completely whole.”