Whether you call it stoic, equanimity or balance, the work of stability through unstable times comes about through a dedicated practice. The essence of the practice is to come into the moment, to look, to pause, to deeply listen and then move with the intention to not cause harm. We seldom have examples in our leadership which demonstrate this since many reach these positions through their powers of persuasion, reactivity and their greed for attention. Yet, when truly lined up with soul time beyond concepts of who we think we are, there’s a capacity to pause and receive grace… to truly see and to hear deeply with the energy that moves forward to healing, no matter what. These practices require stoic discipline that will be able to stand up to the “excusing mind”, the ego mind, that tries to make exceptions to what we know we must do.

In 1972 I was with a Zen teacher, Katagiri Roshi, who was pushing me to some extreme limits of time. He had shown me how to experience expanded sense of time through present minded breathing. One day I came to him with my excusing mind, asking for relief from our rigid schedule. His firm transmission of ‘no excuse, no complaint’ came through my entire being and it’s guided me for the past fifty years of my “practice”. His words were stern and powerful: “Randy….we all have the same twenty-four hours.” Today I have the deepest gratitude for his wisdom and refusal to let me walk away from the “practice”.

Healing is a process. It’s about coming back to wholeness and it’s all about momentum. Don’t become impatient with the speed of healing. Your impatience and complaint will slow the momentum and could possibly reverse the process or shut it down.

The closed mind is the ignoring mind. It ignores new evidence as it comes in and operates under the false illusion that it has all the information. This is the mind of ignorance and we must be very careful when we’re in the face of it. The ignorant will justify their violence upon others and the planet through a belief system that is closed to new information.

Puppy fresh or ship wreck.

For me, the lighter I am the easier it is to see the light. This refers to the stuff I have or any accumulation I’m holding onto that I really don’t need.