Recognize the great innate goodness, wisdom, love, compassion, awareness, skill, and positive energy within yourself and others, rather than focusing only on the negative. This helps you see what is truly there, which is often overlooked, and is the basis for real love.
Practice “open awareness meditation” by simply letting go and being with your mind, like the sky, allowing all feelings and sensations to come and be without trying to control, create, or avoid anything. This helps to discover your fundamental perfect nature, leading to deep relaxation and acceptance, and fostering unconditional love and forgiveness.
When experiencing uncomfortable feelings like panic, hatred, or the thought “I can’t do this,” simply be with the feeling without trying to control, fight, or follow it. This allows you to see the underlying love and desire for happiness, and it’s a process of purification, like cleaning a dirty cup.
Recognize that you are perfect right now and possess an innate wisdom, which is like a lamp that is both light itself and illuminates things around it. This helps to discover the basic, innate wisdom within, moving beyond conceptual mind to a state of clarity and luminosity.
Understand that the desire to free yourself from hatred or to be happy, even if it manifests as self-hatred, is a form of love and care for yourself. We often don’t recognize these capacities within ourselves, but they are present as a fundamental wish for well-being.
Cultivate the wish for the suffering of other beings to be diminished, sending love, compassion, and virtues from your heart. This makes you calm, peaceful, gives energy, makes you more resilient and resourceful, and helps others by changing how you act.
Start by appreciating simple things like your breath, senses, being alive, and the people around you. This practice allows you to see things you never saw before, appreciate more, and opens your heart to love by recognizing the sweetness in others.
During meditation or in life, allow yourself to feel you are making a mistake, cannot relax, or are imperfect, without trying to control or suppress these feelings. This act of allowing is itself a form of relaxation, acceptance, forgiveness, and unconditional love.
When you feel hatred or anger towards someone, focus on hating their actions or egoistic mind, rather than the person themselves, believing in their fundamental goodness. This helps you avoid being controlled by hatred and allows you to act from a place of love and compassion.
Instead of trying to change the world directly, focus on changing yourself. Personal transformation can be “contagious” and is a more powerful way to create a better world.
After developing inner peace and acceptance, engage in the world to help others from a sane and grounded perspective. The world needs people who are sanely trying to help others, and personal transformation enables this effective engagement.
When bored, view it as a valuable opportunity to look inward, discover your inner “treasure,” study, or engage in creative activities like gardening or inventing exercises. This transforms boredom into a chance for self-exploration and productive engagement.
In relationships, accept the impermanent nature of life, recognizing that feelings go up and down and no one is perfect (“Mr. Okay and Mrs. Okay”). This acceptance helps maintain relationships by fostering understanding and realistic expectations.
To keep love and relationships deep, continuously learn about each other, do new things together, and engage in creative exploration. This prevents boredom and helps love deepen by fostering continuous growth and shared experiences.
Study how your mind works, understanding its different levels: matter, feeling, conceptual, habitual, and pure consciousness (the five skandhas). This knowledge helps in understanding oneself and the nature of reality.
Practice analytical meditation to understand the nature of reality, including concepts like interdependence and emptiness (meaning unborn and not going to die). This practice helps to see the true nature of self as unborn, luminous, clear, and aware, moving beyond dualistic grasping.
Embrace the “middle way” by seeking balance in all aspects of life and understanding the concepts of interdependence and emptiness. This approach helps to see the nature of self as unborn and not subject to death, revealing luminosity, clarity, and awareness.
Engage in regular physical exercise, such as walking or creating your own unique routines like “jumping breath.” It’s part of maintaining personal well-being and can be a creative outlet.
Plant vegetables, garden, and cook for yourself and your family. This provides enjoyment, creates organic food, and can be a way to connect with family and contribute.