January 5, 2025 • 41 mins
This episode of The Conscious Classroom with Amy Edelstein invites us to explore the power of setting meaningful intentions and to learn how to let go of will-based resolutions as the most effective means to create lasting transformation.
By uncovering our deepest values and nurturing inspiration from within, we can align our actions with what truly matters to us and engage in positive change, both personally and collectively.
Amy will delve into:
• Identifying the value of intentions rather than resolutions
• Reflecting on our deeper cares as we set our trajectory for the New Year
• Overcoming feelings of disempowerment and frustration
• The significance of inspiration in maintaining motivation
• Addressing cultural norms the negatively impact youth and how to positively support young people
• Embracing stillness and reflection during meditation
• Recognizing our capacity for goodness and positive change
• Encouraging a supportive community through shared intentions
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm really excited to be here together with you to
start this new year and whatkeeps us on the path, what keeps
(00:31):
us inspired, what keeps usready to engage and to lean in,
and that's really what I wantedto do today.
That's what I wanted to talkabout together and definitely do
some meditation together aswell.
It's always nicer than you thinkto sit in meditation.
(00:54):
Even if you love to meditate,the experience is always more
mysteriously restoring than youthink it might be.
It's a good thing to remember,especially on those evenings
(01:15):
when we've had a long day, orthose mornings when we're
wondering how the pace of lifeis going to unfold.
This time of year is a specialtime.
It's a time when, as a culture,we have the opportunity to
(01:41):
think about the sacred and, ofcourse, new Year's.
Our cultural habits or ritualsare to create intentions, and
intentions.
They've often been co-opted asa way to market us more products
(02:02):
and gym memberships andnutritional supplements and
Fitbits.
But really, what intentions are?
It's a time to reflect on ourdeeper cares.
Is my life oriented towardswhat is most important?
(02:24):
Oriented towards what is mostimportant?
Am I really tuned to that NorthStar of what I hold is most
sacred, or am I kind of vagueabout it and a little bit more
frustrated with how things are,which is easier in some ways If
(02:48):
we're not awake to theconsequences of our thoughts and
our context and our orientation.
It can be easier to be a littlebit grumbly about the way
things are or the way we are,the way our life is, or the way
the people in our lives are, orthe way our government is, or
the way important things likewar and poverty and the
(03:10):
environment, that North Star, sothat we're really looking into
the future for what we want tohappen.
(03:31):
No-transcript, there's alwaysmore to go.
(04:09):
Even the Dalai Lama spends manytimes a day reminding himself
of his most sacred intention,which is to have all sentient
beings liberated.
Well, that's a big deal.
We're not really there yet.
We can't even really imagine it.
Nelson Mandela spent, you know,27 years in prison envisioning
(04:35):
the end of apartheid.
And when we really reify ourintentions, it's not magical
thinking, it's not some sensethat, oh, if we envision it,
then we don't have to engage.
(04:56):
When we envision what we mostaspire to see in ourselves and
in the world around us, itstarts to exert a tractor beam
on ourselves and it starts topull us towards it.
So it pulls us towards where wewant to go and it aligns our
(05:18):
actions so that we can helpcreate the conditions to bring
that about.
The other thing that it does is, rather than being this passive
, I'm going to sit back and justvisualize and then it's all
going to come to me.
There are a lot of people wholive by that and I think
miraculous things do happen forsome people.
If you happen to be one ofthose people where that doesn't
(05:41):
work so well, no-transcript.
(06:13):
Part of the frustration thatmany people experience is a
sense of disempowerment.
How am I ever going to lose theweight I need to lose?
How am I ever going to get backin shape?
How am I ever going to clean upthe environment?
How am I going to solve thisunbearable polarization and
violence of speech in ourculture?
How am I going to clean up theenvironment?
So all of those things plagueus and we feel a sense of
(06:46):
disempowerment when we getfrustrated or angry.
So when we engage with ourintentions and our resolutions
in a way where we start leaningin and going, how can I create,
or may I or may the conditionsmanifest so that the tyrants
around the world awaken to theerrors of their ways.
(07:09):
So amazing solutions happen andwe clean up the environment.
Something extraordinary ishappening in the nuclear
disaster site in Japan, inFukushima.
There are these microorganismsthat have generated out of no
one knows where and they'reingesting the radioactive
(07:31):
material and neutralizing it.
It's unbelievable, it's amazing.
How could that be possible?
Miracles can happen.
We want to allow and make roomfor them to happen while
aligning ourselves with ourhigher intentions.
So this is a very interestingposture where we can't sit back
(07:55):
and do nothing, but we're notbeing animated or motivated by
willpower.
Some of you may be verydisciplined and have a lot of
willpower.
I grew up in the seventies.
Those were my formative yearsin high school and I was kind of
a rebel.
The most popular bumper stickerwas question authority.
(08:17):
So nobody told me what to do.
If anyone told me what to do, Iwould do the opposite.
So discipline and willpowerdoesn't work very well for me,
and what does work well for meis inspiration.
So when I'm inspired and I lovesomething, nothing can stop me
(08:39):
from doing it.
If I feel like I have to dosomething because somebody else
is telling me what to do, thatwill probably inspire that 1970s
, go against whatever anyone'stelling you in you.
(09:11):
I would suggest that, inapproaching the start of the new
year with intentionality, would.
(09:37):
It will help to identify whatyou love the most and set your
sights there and allow what youreally want to see happen to
change the way you interact, theway you move, the way you
identify with other people, theway you relate.
What it also does is it willshow you that you're not empty
handed, because when we canstart visualizing the conditions
that we want to see, we realizewe know a lot more than we
think we know, and that knowingis an empowerment.
So those moments of boredom,scrolling through social media
(10:03):
or channel surfing I did a focusgroup with 12, 22-year-olds a
couple nights ago just to findout what their college
experience is, what the mentalwellness supports were, what
they might need, whether I canexpand my program into college,
what it would look like I canexpand my program into college,
what it would look like and whatI found very revealing and
(10:28):
interesting.
They were a lovely group ofyoung people, really really
lovely, really special.
They were very candid and theytalked about things like
mindlessly scrolling and oneyoung woman said for like two
(10:50):
hours, and the other oneslaughed and said you really mean
for six hours and she said yes.
Or cheating in college, usingchat, gpt to cheat.
And these are norms in ourculture now, where we're looking
outside ourselves, without thatsense of being pulled from the
inside, to want to learn not tocheat, not be, not just because
(11:18):
it's a lack of integrity, butbecause one cares about one's
learning.
One cares about one's learning,one cares about one's own
development, one wants to makethat noble struggle to get
somewhere.
The mindless scrolling is thesame thing.
(11:38):
We're looking for some easy fixor numbing outside to calm that
restlessness.
It never really works andthat's why we do it for hours at
a time.
Some of us don't, but theyounger generation, everyone's
(12:00):
doing it.
We went out and did otherthings, everyone's doing it.
We went out and did otherthings.
So this way of engaging with ourintention brings the
inspiration and motivation fromoutside, that thing that we want
to shift, that we want to helpus shift the restlessness.
(12:21):
It brings it inside and thenwe're going wow, what are the
conditions I want to create?
What do I want to see happen?
What would it look like?
What are the mind shifts thatneed to happen?
I wonder, if these conditionsarose, would people wake up?
Would people wake up?
(12:43):
Then it starts moving fromwithin, so that you're pulled by
something you're fascinated by,by something you love, by
something that you're inspiredby, by something that you really
want to do, and that shift ofperspective is something that
(13:11):
can become permanent.
Now, some people who have a lotof willpower, they can become
very disciplined and that doesbecome permanent.
But all the great athletes thatI've known not that I don't
know any like super eliteathletes, but really good
athletes they do it because theylove it.
They work out they, they refinetheir craft because they love
(13:34):
it.
Same with musicians the greatmusicians I know you can't stop
them from playing the engineers,you can't stop them from doing
things and inventing things andprocesses.
The discipline I think for youknow especially people like that
(13:56):
who are really accomplished itdoes come from passion, not just
willpower.
So, as we approach ourorientation to this cultural
moment that marks, okay, thelast year's past, this is 2025.
(14:16):
What do I want to see?
What do I want to do?
What do I want to bring into mylife?
Resist the temptation to make alaundry list of all the things
you're going to change and putyour attention on what you care
about and what are theconditions that will help that
(14:37):
flower.
It's a harder contemplationbecause it's not.
There isn't a single answer.
There isn't the 10 resolutionsthat you can list and put on
your automatic reminders andcheck in with yourself February
1st and March 1st and April 1st,and by May 1st they may be a
(15:00):
little bit far in the background.
Put your attention on what youcare about and keep leaning into
that and then you're going tofind that your conversations are
around it the people you havein your life.
You start being connected topeople who care about the same
(15:22):
thing, care about the same thing, and you start feeling like
there's more goodness andupdraft in the world than you
thought.
We need that and our worldneeds that.
We are in a difficult time.
Let's be real.
It's a difficult time, butdifficult times we get through
(15:47):
by leaning in together and notby withdrawing back, and the
inspiration that we have is whatallows us to feel engaged with
life, not like we want to justretreat retreat from the people
we know, retreat from people wehaven't met yet, retreat from
(16:11):
projects, retreat from thepossibility.
And withdrawal is understandable.
We do that when conditions areso harsh around us, when
conditions are so harsh aroundus, but imagining how things
could be different and leaninginto that is what will one keep
(16:36):
our positive boundaries, becausewe don't want to engage in an
unhelpful way in toxicenvironments.
It really doesn't help.
If we're inspired, we need tofan the flames of our
inspiration.
That might mean long meditationretreats, but long meditation
retreats aren't withdrawal,they're retreat, they're
(17:01):
intentional, they're leaning inand, as we know as meditators,
meditation's hard, it feels easy, but the transformation out of
what we become aware of takescourage, takes stamina, takes
backbone, it takesintentionality, bone, it takes
(17:40):
intentionality.
That's why, when we're whatwe've reflected on, I know for
myself something always comesthat is unexpected.
And as I was writing, I wasseeing one of the things that I
(18:03):
care most about themanifestation in this world from
a different angle and it almostsurprised me what I was
articulating.
So you may have had somethinglike that, or maybe it was what
you expected, and if it's whatyou expected, that's also good
(18:25):
Means.
It's close to you, what youcare about, what you want to see
imagined in the world, and whenwe engage with it in this way,
it brings a freshness to it,partly why I wanted to do this
today is so that we really putour attention on so it imprints
(18:45):
in our being, so it gives usthat stamp of direction, so that
we have that compass pointingto our North Star.
And it's in our being and it'snot vague, even though it's
constantly changing and eventhough it's sometimes more clear
, sometimes more misty, but weknow it and we know when it's
(19:11):
misty or cloudy.
That's also a part of ourevolution.
That's also a part of ourunfolding.
We go through periods wherethere's a sprint to the finish
and then we go through periodswhere something's cooking inside
or outside.
(19:32):
Sometimes there are externalconditions that need to come
into play.
Letting ourselves take thesemoments to reify our intention
and our direction also allows usto relax and rest during those
times of in-betweenness, whenit's foggy.
It's a natural stage ofunfolding.
(19:54):
It will occur at differentpoints.
It doesn't mean there's aproblem.
Things don't always have to bein crystal clear focus.
It doesn't mean we're notheading in the right direction.
But there's a differencebetween walking through the mist
(20:16):
and being lost, and we want toknow that.
So that's why taking time likethis is important.
Since we've just reflected,let's sit till the top of the
hour and in this meditation,give yourself really the
(20:37):
opportunity to let go.
So there isn't more thinkingyou need to do, there isn't more
analysis you need to do rightnow.
Have that trust that what youstarted to gestate is being
(20:58):
nurtured and nourished by beingstill, by letting go of effort,
by letting go of thought, byletting go of striving, that our
intentional being is whatcreates that nurturing womb-like
(21:23):
atmosphere for our sacredintentions.
Last night I sat with a fewother people to bring in the new
year and it was so deep andsilent.
(21:45):
It's also nice sometimesmeditating in the middle of the
night and I could feel the powerof being very awake and very
still and open to goodness.
(22:08):
To emerge from within andwithout Inspiration isn't a
feeling outside of us.
Inspiration isn't somethingthat lives externally.
(22:29):
Things catalyze inspiration.
For us for sure.
There was an extraordinarysunrise this morning and I was
standing on my little porch it'sall very damp where I live and
it was really beautiful burntorange and magenta and purple
(22:56):
clouds and the sun was comingthrough and it catalyzes that
sense of beauty and goodness andwanting to be worthy of this
beautiful world that we're in.
But inspiration doesn't live inthe sunrise that catalyzed it.
(23:19):
Inspiration lives in us, in us,and when we understand that,
when we deeply recognize thatinspiration really dawns from
(23:41):
the recesses of our own hearts,we also find that inspiration is
not something that necessarilycomes and goes or is catalyzed
by something else.
Inspiration is a posture, it's aposition, it's a perspective
(24:06):
that we take or that we orientour lives around for a certain
(24:32):
narrow range of human emotion.
That is what we've decided tocall inspiration, and it depends
(24:52):
often on beautiful sunrises orfeeling that burst of love for
someone we care about, orhearing a dharma talk by
somebody who we really admireand respect, even who has that
transmission.
And those things do catalyzeand they're important, and it's
important to put ourselves inspaces and places where that
catalyzing element is there.
I try to go on a sort ofpilgrimage as often as I can to
(25:22):
places in the world where I feelI can let go With my program.
Those strips are fewer and farbetween than I'd like them to be
, but still.
But it's more important andmore sustaining to think about
(25:44):
inspiration as how we orient ourlives.
And so any moment is anopportunity for practice, and by
practice I don't just mean thisis my practice and this is my
life.
But by practice I mean leaningin to the process of
(26:10):
self-development and awakeningand transformation and
purification, holding ourselvesto a higher standard standard,
and the higher standard of notof willpower and conformity but
(26:31):
of inner unfolding, of deepercare, deeper compassion, deeper
wisdom, deeper equanimity,deeper recognition of the
interplay between emptiness andcare, not grasping for anything
(27:02):
and being able to care withoutattachment.
So inspiration is being able tohold ourselves to that
orientation to life.
So when we're feeling likewe're pushing the boulder uphill
(27:27):
and we might not have enoughsupport and we're slipping
backwards and the boulder isheavy, the orientation of
inspiration, that commitment toour intention to develop, means
pausing and letting the boulderrest for a second and seeing if
we can shift how we're relatingto the situation that feels
(27:48):
daunting and uninspiring to onethat can catalyze our growth,
can allow us to reach into thewell of our own resources and
draw out more.
Feeling that posture ofinspiration again is an
(28:16):
emotional high, but it is thesame sort of ease and let go
that we experience when we feelthat excited sense of exuberance
.
So that inspiration that allowsus to be confident in the path
(28:42):
that we're on, confident in ourcommitment to develop, confident
in our aspiration to awaken.
I might have mentioned this.
I got in a nice way told off bythe great Buddhist scholar and
practitioner Bob Thurman, when Iwas interviewing him about a
(29:07):
month ago, because I used theword awakening and he said
nobody wants to use the wordenlightenment anymore.
Everyone uses the wordawakening, but you can awaken to
anything.
And he gave some sort ofnegative political examples.
I don't know if I agree withthat, but now when I use the
word awakening it makes me laugh.
I always stay away from theword enlightenment these days
(29:29):
because it to me is so attachedwith so many misconceptions and
misuses of the word.
So it came to mind I thought,oh, if he was listening he would
tell me off again.
But I think we do want to awakenand open our eyes to different
(29:55):
perspectives and different waysof seeing that are inherently
strengthening and inherentlychallenging.
Inherently strengthening andinherently challenging.
And challenging not because weneed more stress in our lives,
but challenging because wereally do have more potential,
(30:21):
we really do have more wisdomand we really do have more
capacity for goodness andpurpose and really creating a
momentum of positivity in ourown circles, in our own lives
and in the world around us andfor those of us who have had the
(30:42):
privilege of being meditatorsNot just the five-minute
meditators who discovered itlast week because we decided we
had to reduce our attention, butwe've had the privilege to
practice and to explore Ourcapacity to bring in positive
(31:06):
momentum in this world is muchgreater than we give ourselves
credit for, is much greater thanwe give ourselves credit for.
So we want to awaken to thisposture of our own capacity,
which is awakening to thatposture of inspiration that's
not dependent on somethingexternal but that appreciates
(31:28):
the catalysts that catalyze theexperience of inspiration anew.
But we recognize that currentand draw towards goodness that
we sense as an inherent part ofthe fabric of being is something
that we can contribute to andwe can bring into being, and
(31:55):
then we align ourselves with it.
So, if anything, I see this NewYear's period as a time of
alignment and refining ouralignment and sensing our
(32:17):
capacity to calibrate ouralignment in more and more
precise ways, so that we're notvague.
Even though that goal is stilla mystery at its heart, it's
unknown, it's hard, it's magic.
(32:39):
So we're not trying to calcifyit, we want to leave it open.
We want to leave it open forthose mysterious microorganisms
to emerge that can ingest andneutralize toxins Go figure and
allow those moments of magic inour lives to sustain us and
(33:16):
allow conscious boundarieswithout withdrawal.
So allow our own retreat orboundaries to be a leaning in,
not a removal from, becausethere will be challenges in the
year ahead.
We have wars, we have naturaldisasters, we have species that
(33:38):
are suffering, we have teenagersfilled with angst, we have
issues, and our inspiration andorientation to life can catalyze
a way of being that will reallysupport ourselves and those
(34:01):
people around us in a way thatis generative and that is
constantly renewing, and that isconstantly renewing and that
feeds us and makes us strong asmuch as it uplifts those around
(34:23):
us.
So that's my wish and mydirection for the year and I
hope that you've also helpedthrough your reflection in the
meditation.
Clarify what's stirring in yourown heart and let's take our
(34:47):
last minutes and let's closewith a short meditation and
dedication, allowing our ownintentions to perhaps carry more
import and more gravitas thanwe even recognize now.
(35:38):
Eyes now, letting this time ofof conscious reflection to
amplify and Amplify and reifythose values.
As we sit in the stillness, letyour deepest cares imprint that
North Star, that direction inyour heart, and allow yourself
(36:21):
to be contained within thataspiration, rather than you
trying to contain thatimmeasurable aspiration into a
(37:40):
more limited sense of self.
Thank you, allow yourself tosoften the edges of yourself
around the future or around whatthe bigness of your care might
(38:01):
lead to.
Thank you, and allow thestretch of your own heart and
(39:00):
the ache of a profound care andlove to extend across the cosmos
.
And extending this wish, may Ibe well and guided by care
(39:37):
beyond measure.
May all beings be well and safefrom harm and safe from harm.
May the cosmos be illuminatedby love and compassion and may
(40:27):
we come to see the world as wemost want to live in it.
I'm really excited to be here together with you to
start this new year and whatkeeps us on the path, what keeps
(00:31):
us inspired, what keeps usready to engage and to lean in,
and that's really what I wantedto do today.
That's what I wanted to talkabout together and definitely do
some meditation together aswell.
It's always nicer than you thinkto sit in meditation.
(00:54):
Even if you love to meditate,the experience is always more
mysteriously restoring than youthink it might be.
It's a good thing to remember,especially on those evenings
(01:15):
when we've had a long day, orthose mornings when we're
wondering how the pace of lifeis going to unfold.
This time of year is a specialtime.
It's a time when, as a culture,we have the opportunity to
(01:41):
think about the sacred and, ofcourse, new Year's.
Our cultural habits or ritualsare to create intentions, and
intentions.
They've often been co-opted asa way to market us more products
(02:02):
and gym memberships andnutritional supplements and
Fitbits.
But really, what intentions are?
It's a time to reflect on ourdeeper cares.
Is my life oriented towardswhat is most important?
(02:24):
Oriented towards what is mostimportant?
Am I really tuned to that NorthStar of what I hold is most
sacred, or am I kind of vagueabout it and a little bit more
frustrated with how things are,which is easier in some ways If
(02:48):
we're not awake to theconsequences of our thoughts and
our context and our orientation.
It can be easier to be a littlebit grumbly about the way
things are or the way we are,the way our life is, or the way
the people in our lives are, orthe way our government is, or
the way important things likewar and poverty and the
(03:10):
environment, that North Star, sothat we're really looking into
the future for what we want tohappen.
(03:31):
No-transcript, there's alwaysmore to go.
(04:09):
Even the Dalai Lama spends manytimes a day reminding himself
of his most sacred intention,which is to have all sentient
beings liberated.
Well, that's a big deal.
We're not really there yet.
We can't even really imagine it.
Nelson Mandela spent, you know,27 years in prison envisioning
(04:35):
the end of apartheid.
And when we really reify ourintentions, it's not magical
thinking, it's not some sensethat, oh, if we envision it,
then we don't have to engage.
(04:56):
When we envision what we mostaspire to see in ourselves and
in the world around us, itstarts to exert a tractor beam
on ourselves and it starts topull us towards it.
So it pulls us towards where wewant to go and it aligns our
(05:18):
actions so that we can helpcreate the conditions to bring
that about.
The other thing that it does is, rather than being this passive
, I'm going to sit back and justvisualize and then it's all
going to come to me.
There are a lot of people wholive by that and I think
miraculous things do happen forsome people.
If you happen to be one ofthose people where that doesn't
(05:41):
work so well, no-transcript.
(06:13):
Part of the frustration thatmany people experience is a
sense of disempowerment.
How am I ever going to lose theweight I need to lose?
How am I ever going to get backin shape?
How am I ever going to clean upthe environment?
How am I going to solve thisunbearable polarization and
violence of speech in ourculture?
How am I going to clean up theenvironment?
So all of those things plagueus and we feel a sense of
(06:46):
disempowerment when we getfrustrated or angry.
So when we engage with ourintentions and our resolutions
in a way where we start leaningin and going, how can I create,
or may I or may the conditionsmanifest so that the tyrants
around the world awaken to theerrors of their ways.
(07:09):
So amazing solutions happen andwe clean up the environment.
Something extraordinary ishappening in the nuclear
disaster site in Japan, inFukushima.
There are these microorganismsthat have generated out of no
one knows where and they'reingesting the radioactive
(07:31):
material and neutralizing it.
It's unbelievable, it's amazing.
How could that be possible?
Miracles can happen.
We want to allow and make roomfor them to happen while
aligning ourselves with ourhigher intentions.
So this is a very interestingposture where we can't sit back
(07:55):
and do nothing, but we're notbeing animated or motivated by
willpower.
Some of you may be verydisciplined and have a lot of
willpower.
I grew up in the seventies.
Those were my formative yearsin high school and I was kind of
a rebel.
The most popular bumper stickerwas question authority.
(08:17):
So nobody told me what to do.
If anyone told me what to do, Iwould do the opposite.
So discipline and willpowerdoesn't work very well for me,
and what does work well for meis inspiration.
So when I'm inspired and I lovesomething, nothing can stop me
(08:39):
from doing it.
If I feel like I have to dosomething because somebody else
is telling me what to do, thatwill probably inspire that 1970s
, go against whatever anyone'stelling you in you.
(09:11):
I would suggest that, inapproaching the start of the new
year with intentionality, would.
(09:37):
It will help to identify whatyou love the most and set your
sights there and allow what youreally want to see happen to
change the way you interact, theway you move, the way you
identify with other people, theway you relate.
What it also does is it willshow you that you're not empty
handed, because when we canstart visualizing the conditions
that we want to see, we realizewe know a lot more than we
think we know, and that knowingis an empowerment.
So those moments of boredom,scrolling through social media
(10:03):
or channel surfing I did a focusgroup with 12, 22-year-olds a
couple nights ago just to findout what their college
experience is, what the mentalwellness supports were, what
they might need, whether I canexpand my program into college,
what it would look like I canexpand my program into college,
what it would look like and whatI found very revealing and
(10:28):
interesting.
They were a lovely group ofyoung people, really really
lovely, really special.
They were very candid and theytalked about things like
mindlessly scrolling and oneyoung woman said for like two
(10:50):
hours, and the other oneslaughed and said you really mean
for six hours and she said yes.
Or cheating in college, usingchat, gpt to cheat.
And these are norms in ourculture now, where we're looking
outside ourselves, without thatsense of being pulled from the
inside, to want to learn not tocheat, not be, not just because
(11:18):
it's a lack of integrity, butbecause one cares about one's
learning.
One cares about one's learning,one cares about one's own
development, one wants to makethat noble struggle to get
somewhere.
The mindless scrolling is thesame thing.
(11:38):
We're looking for some easy fixor numbing outside to calm that
restlessness.
It never really works andthat's why we do it for hours at
a time.
Some of us don't, but theyounger generation, everyone's
(12:00):
doing it.
We went out and did otherthings, everyone's doing it.
We went out and did otherthings.
So this way of engaging with ourintention brings the
inspiration and motivation fromoutside, that thing that we want
to shift, that we want to helpus shift the restlessness.
(12:21):
It brings it inside and thenwe're going wow, what are the
conditions I want to create?
What do I want to see happen?
What would it look like?
What are the mind shifts thatneed to happen?
I wonder, if these conditionsarose, would people wake up?
Would people wake up?
(12:43):
Then it starts moving fromwithin, so that you're pulled by
something you're fascinated by,by something you love, by
something that you're inspiredby, by something that you really
want to do, and that shift ofperspective is something that
(13:11):
can become permanent.
Now, some people who have a lotof willpower, they can become
very disciplined and that doesbecome permanent.
But all the great athletes thatI've known not that I don't
know any like super eliteathletes, but really good
athletes they do it because theylove it.
They work out they, they refinetheir craft because they love
(13:34):
it.
Same with musicians the greatmusicians I know you can't stop
them from playing the engineers,you can't stop them from doing
things and inventing things andprocesses.
The discipline I think for youknow especially people like that
(13:56):
who are really accomplished itdoes come from passion, not just
willpower.
So, as we approach ourorientation to this cultural
moment that marks, okay, thelast year's past, this is 2025.
(14:16):
What do I want to see?
What do I want to do?
What do I want to bring into mylife?
Resist the temptation to make alaundry list of all the things
you're going to change and putyour attention on what you care
about and what are theconditions that will help that
(14:37):
flower.
It's a harder contemplationbecause it's not.
There isn't a single answer.
There isn't the 10 resolutionsthat you can list and put on
your automatic reminders andcheck in with yourself February
1st and March 1st and April 1st,and by May 1st they may be a
(15:00):
little bit far in the background.
Put your attention on what youcare about and keep leaning into
that and then you're going tofind that your conversations are
around it the people you havein your life.
You start being connected topeople who care about the same
(15:22):
thing, care about the same thing, and you start feeling like
there's more goodness andupdraft in the world than you
thought.
We need that and our worldneeds that.
We are in a difficult time.
Let's be real.
It's a difficult time, butdifficult times we get through
(15:47):
by leaning in together and notby withdrawing back, and the
inspiration that we have is whatallows us to feel engaged with
life, not like we want to justretreat retreat from the people
we know, retreat from people wehaven't met yet, retreat from
(16:11):
projects, retreat from thepossibility.
And withdrawal is understandable.
We do that when conditions areso harsh around us, when
conditions are so harsh aroundus, but imagining how things
could be different and leaninginto that is what will one keep
(16:36):
our positive boundaries, becausewe don't want to engage in an
unhelpful way in toxicenvironments.
It really doesn't help.
If we're inspired, we need tofan the flames of our
inspiration.
That might mean long meditationretreats, but long meditation
retreats aren't withdrawal,they're retreat, they're
(17:01):
intentional, they're leaning inand, as we know as meditators,
meditation's hard, it feels easy, but the transformation out of
what we become aware of takescourage, takes stamina, takes
backbone, it takesintentionality, bone, it takes
(17:40):
intentionality.
That's why, when we're whatwe've reflected on, I know for
myself something always comesthat is unexpected.
And as I was writing, I wasseeing one of the things that I
(18:03):
care most about themanifestation in this world from
a different angle and it almostsurprised me what I was
articulating.
So you may have had somethinglike that, or maybe it was what
you expected, and if it's whatyou expected, that's also good
(18:25):
Means.
It's close to you, what youcare about, what you want to see
imagined in the world, and whenwe engage with it in this way,
it brings a freshness to it,partly why I wanted to do this
today is so that we really putour attention on so it imprints
(18:45):
in our being, so it gives usthat stamp of direction, so that
we have that compass pointingto our North Star.
And it's in our being and it'snot vague, even though it's
constantly changing and eventhough it's sometimes more clear
, sometimes more misty, but weknow it and we know when it's
(19:11):
misty or cloudy.
That's also a part of ourevolution.
That's also a part of ourunfolding.
We go through periods wherethere's a sprint to the finish
and then we go through periodswhere something's cooking inside
or outside.
(19:32):
Sometimes there are externalconditions that need to come
into play.
Letting ourselves take thesemoments to reify our intention
and our direction also allows usto relax and rest during those
times of in-betweenness, whenit's foggy.
It's a natural stage ofunfolding.
(19:54):
It will occur at differentpoints.
It doesn't mean there's aproblem.
Things don't always have to bein crystal clear focus.
It doesn't mean we're notheading in the right direction.
But there's a differencebetween walking through the mist
(20:16):
and being lost, and we want toknow that.
So that's why taking time likethis is important.
Since we've just reflected,let's sit till the top of the
hour and in this meditation,give yourself really the
(20:37):
opportunity to let go.
So there isn't more thinkingyou need to do, there isn't more
analysis you need to do rightnow.
Have that trust that what youstarted to gestate is being
(20:58):
nurtured and nourished by beingstill, by letting go of effort,
by letting go of thought, byletting go of striving, that our
intentional being is whatcreates that nurturing womb-like
(21:23):
atmosphere for our sacredintentions.
Last night I sat with a fewother people to bring in the new
year and it was so deep andsilent.
(21:45):
It's also nice sometimesmeditating in the middle of the
night and I could feel the powerof being very awake and very
still and open to goodness.
(22:08):
To emerge from within andwithout Inspiration isn't a
feeling outside of us.
Inspiration isn't somethingthat lives externally.
(22:29):
Things catalyze inspiration.
For us for sure.
There was an extraordinarysunrise this morning and I was
standing on my little porch it'sall very damp where I live and
it was really beautiful burntorange and magenta and purple
(22:56):
clouds and the sun was comingthrough and it catalyzes that
sense of beauty and goodness andwanting to be worthy of this
beautiful world that we're in.
But inspiration doesn't live inthe sunrise that catalyzed it.
(23:19):
Inspiration lives in us, in us,and when we understand that,
when we deeply recognize thatinspiration really dawns from
(23:41):
the recesses of our own hearts,we also find that inspiration is
not something that necessarilycomes and goes or is catalyzed
by something else.
Inspiration is a posture, it's aposition, it's a perspective
(24:06):
that we take or that we orientour lives around for a certain
(24:32):
narrow range of human emotion.
That is what we've decided tocall inspiration, and it depends
(24:52):
often on beautiful sunrises orfeeling that burst of love for
someone we care about, orhearing a dharma talk by
somebody who we really admireand respect, even who has that
transmission.
And those things do catalyzeand they're important, and it's
important to put ourselves inspaces and places where that
catalyzing element is there.
I try to go on a sort ofpilgrimage as often as I can to
(25:22):
places in the world where I feelI can let go With my program.
Those strips are fewer and farbetween than I'd like them to be
, but still.
But it's more important andmore sustaining to think about
(25:44):
inspiration as how we orient ourlives.
And so any moment is anopportunity for practice, and by
practice I don't just mean thisis my practice and this is my
life.
But by practice I mean leaningin to the process of
(26:10):
self-development and awakeningand transformation and
purification, holding ourselvesto a higher standard standard,
and the higher standard of notof willpower and conformity but
(26:31):
of inner unfolding, of deepercare, deeper compassion, deeper
wisdom, deeper equanimity,deeper recognition of the
interplay between emptiness andcare, not grasping for anything
(27:02):
and being able to care withoutattachment.
So inspiration is being able tohold ourselves to that
orientation to life.
So when we're feeling likewe're pushing the boulder uphill
(27:27):
and we might not have enoughsupport and we're slipping
backwards and the boulder isheavy, the orientation of
inspiration, that commitment toour intention to develop, means
pausing and letting the boulderrest for a second and seeing if
we can shift how we're relatingto the situation that feels
(27:48):
daunting and uninspiring to onethat can catalyze our growth,
can allow us to reach into thewell of our own resources and
draw out more.
Feeling that posture ofinspiration again is an
(28:16):
emotional high, but it is thesame sort of ease and let go
that we experience when we feelthat excited sense of exuberance
.
So that inspiration that allowsus to be confident in the path
(28:42):
that we're on, confident in ourcommitment to develop, confident
in our aspiration to awaken.
I might have mentioned this.
I got in a nice way told off bythe great Buddhist scholar and
practitioner Bob Thurman, when Iwas interviewing him about a
(29:07):
month ago, because I used theword awakening and he said
nobody wants to use the wordenlightenment anymore.
Everyone uses the wordawakening, but you can awaken to
anything.
And he gave some sort ofnegative political examples.
I don't know if I agree withthat, but now when I use the
word awakening it makes me laugh.
I always stay away from theword enlightenment these days
(29:29):
because it to me is so attachedwith so many misconceptions and
misuses of the word.
So it came to mind I thought,oh, if he was listening he would
tell me off again.
But I think we do want to awakenand open our eyes to different
(29:55):
perspectives and different waysof seeing that are inherently
strengthening and inherentlychallenging.
Inherently strengthening andinherently challenging.
And challenging not because weneed more stress in our lives,
but challenging because wereally do have more potential,
(30:21):
we really do have more wisdomand we really do have more
capacity for goodness andpurpose and really creating a
momentum of positivity in ourown circles, in our own lives
and in the world around us andfor those of us who have had the
(30:42):
privilege of being meditatorsNot just the five-minute
meditators who discovered itlast week because we decided we
had to reduce our attention, butwe've had the privilege to
practice and to explore Ourcapacity to bring in positive
(31:06):
momentum in this world is muchgreater than we give ourselves
credit for, is much greater thanwe give ourselves credit for.
So we want to awaken to thisposture of our own capacity,
which is awakening to thatposture of inspiration that's
not dependent on somethingexternal but that appreciates
(31:28):
the catalysts that catalyze theexperience of inspiration anew.
But we recognize that currentand draw towards goodness that
we sense as an inherent part ofthe fabric of being is something
that we can contribute to andwe can bring into being, and
(31:55):
then we align ourselves with it.
So, if anything, I see this NewYear's period as a time of
alignment and refining ouralignment and sensing our
(32:17):
capacity to calibrate ouralignment in more and more
precise ways, so that we're notvague.
Even though that goal is stilla mystery at its heart, it's
unknown, it's hard, it's magic.
(32:39):
So we're not trying to calcifyit, we want to leave it open.
We want to leave it open forthose mysterious microorganisms
to emerge that can ingest andneutralize toxins Go figure and
allow those moments of magic inour lives to sustain us and
(33:16):
allow conscious boundarieswithout withdrawal.
So allow our own retreat orboundaries to be a leaning in,
not a removal from, becausethere will be challenges in the
year ahead.
We have wars, we have naturaldisasters, we have species that
(33:38):
are suffering, we have teenagersfilled with angst, we have
issues, and our inspiration andorientation to life can catalyze
a way of being that will reallysupport ourselves and those
(34:01):
people around us in a way thatis generative and that is
constantly renewing, and that isconstantly renewing and that
feeds us and makes us strong asmuch as it uplifts those around
(34:23):
us.
So that's my wish and mydirection for the year and I
hope that you've also helpedthrough your reflection in the
meditation.
Clarify what's stirring in yourown heart and let's take our
(34:47):
last minutes and let's closewith a short meditation and
dedication, allowing our ownintentions to perhaps carry more
import and more gravitas thanwe even recognize now.
(35:38):
Eyes now, letting this time ofof conscious reflection to
amplify and Amplify and reifythose values.
As we sit in the stillness, letyour deepest cares imprint that
North Star, that direction inyour heart, and allow yourself
(36:21):
to be contained within thataspiration, rather than you
trying to contain thatimmeasurable aspiration into a
(37:40):
more limited sense of self.
Thank you, allow yourself tosoften the edges of yourself
around the future or around whatthe bigness of your care might
(38:01):
lead to.
Thank you, and allow thestretch of your own heart and
(39:00):
the ache of a profound care andlove to extend across the cosmos
.
And extending this wish, may Ibe well and guided by care
(39:37):
beyond measure.
May all beings be well and safefrom harm and safe from harm.
May the cosmos be illuminatedby love and compassion and may
(40:27):
we come to see the world as wemost want to live in it.
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