Today we ask that you consider how simple and valuable a meditative breath practice is.

Meditative breathing costs you nothing.  It can be done anywhere, at any time.  You do not need to be in a special place to do it.  You do not need to sit in a special position.  You do not need a guru to teach you how to do it.  You do not need special training.  

All you need to do is consciously breathe.

By consciously breathe, we mean to pay attention to the process of inhaling and exhaling air into and out of your lungs.  This is going on all the time, so long as you are alive in a physical body.  But usually, you do not pay attention to it.

So: just start paying attention to your breath.  Pay attention to the inhale.  Pay attention to the exhale.  And pay attention to the spaces in between — particularly the empty space between the exhale of the out breath, and the inhale of the in breath, when the body is very still.

As you breathe, you can label the inhale “in,” and you can label the exhale “out.”

If you do this simple breath awareness practice, you are “meditating.”  It is the essence of any meditative practice.

Good times to engage in breath awareness include when you are performing simple tasks, like doing the dishes, or vacuuming, or cleaning.  It is good to do while you are taking a shower.  It is good to do outdoors, when you are walking a dog, or gardening.  It is very good to do whenever you take a break from work.  It is good to take ten slow, deep, conscious breaths before you commence any mental task.

What this does, over time, is increase the amount of space, and stillness, in your daily life.  When you are consciously breathing, your thinking mind is at rest.  Out of this stillness, a deep sense of well-being can arise.  

It may not be immediate.  It may take some time to be felt.  But a regular practice of conscious, meditative breathing will, over time, lead to a greater sense of peace and calm in your daily life.

It costs you nothing, and can be done anywhere.  All that it requires is a conscious commitment to doing it.  The thinking mind has a tendency to want to break into the meditative breathing space, and stop you from doing it.  Notice this pattern.

Isn’t it interesting, how challenging it is to do something as simple as staying conscious of your breath?

Today we ask you to let go of your grievances.

Many of you carry around a heavy burden of resentment toward particular individuals in your life.

They might be your parents.  Or a former lover — an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend, an ex-wife or husband.  It might be your child.  It might be a former friend.

It might be someone you work with.  It might be a former boss, or a current boss.  It might be a coworker.  It might be a partner.

Most of you have people like this in your lives.  If you do not, count yourself very lucky indeed.

If you do carry someone like this around with you — some person against whom you hold a grievance — please know that no good will come from this resentment.

Such grievances are quite toxic.  Not for the person whom you resent, but for you.

Carrying around a grievance is like walking around with an infected wound, and doing nothing to heal it.  You do not apply antiseptic, you do not put on a bandage, you do not seek help or treatment.

For some, grievances can become quite gangrenous.  You lose a part of the self to the unhealed grievance — like someone losing a limb.  You are not a whole person, because of the grievance.

Some people die, because of their grievances.  Heavy grievances can in some cases lead to severe physical and/or mental illness.  

So what can you do about your grievances?

It is good, early in, to get everything off your chest.  Speak to a therapist, or work with a healer.  Write a long letter to the person, that you do not send.  This is not about them; it is about you, and your healing.  Allow yourself to fully feel the emotional trauma around the grievance.  Let yourself cry.

Once that is done, however, you must let it go.  

If you find yourself obsessively thinking about the person, stop.  Do not let your thoughts run away with you.  Take ten slow, deep breaths, counting each breath.  Go for a walk.  Get back into your body.  Do whatever you can to stop the train of thought before it takes over.

Do not complain about this person to your friends.  It is one thing to talk to a therapist, or healer.  But complaining to friends only serves to inflame the wound, and keep it from healing.

Do not allow yourself to obsessively think about the person.  This only inflames the wound, and keeps it infected.

The best treatment for a psychic injury is to treat it fully and deeply very quickly after it is inflicted — and then to let it rest.  Just like a physical wound.  Keep the area clean.  Do not pick at it, do not keep touching it.  That will prevent healing.  You must let it rest.  

Some of you may be carrying around many old, unhealed, infected psychic injuries.  The course of treatment is the same.

Excavate the old injury fully and deeply.  See a therapist, or a healer.  Write a letter to the person who injured you — one that you do not send.   Feel the emotions deeply.

But you must eventually find a completion point.  You must, sooner or later, stop.  Do not keep thinking about it.  Do not obsess over it.  Do not complain to others about it.  Do not pick at the scab.  Let it rest.  Let it go.

This is how to heal from psychic injuries, and let go of your grievances toward others.  Unhealed grievances are truly toxic.  Please, heal them.  Then let them go.

Today we ask that you relax.

There is nothing you experience, nothing about your life, that will not improve by relaxing.  There is no situation you are dealing with that will not improve by relaxing.

Many of you are taught that relaxation is not good.  It is seen as the enemy of productivity.  To relax is considered “lazy.”  You are only allowed to relax when your work is done, and you are safe and secure.

For many, that moment will never come.

When will your work ever be done?  When will you ever feel safe and secure?

When you retire?  But you will not be safe and secure then.  You will always have something to feel insecure about.  You will worry about your health, or your children, or your money.  There will always be something eating away at you, stopping you from relaxing.

That is why if you are ever going to relax, it must begin right now, in this moment.  And if you can learn to relax right now, in this moment, you will always have the ability to relax.

There is no problem you face that relaxation will not aid.

Consider it.  Do you solve problems best when you are tense, panicky, and sleep-deprived?

Or do you solve problems best when you are relaxed and calm, and refreshed after a good night’s sleep?

How does your body feel when it is tense?

Doesn’t your body feel much better when it is relaxed?

Many of you believe that bad things will happen to you if you are not hypervigilant.

But this is not so.

Many of you believe that if you relaxed, you would be sloppy, and not stay on top of things.

But this is not so.

In fact, relaxed people are on the whole far more productive than their nervous, anxious counterparts.

And in a crisis situation, who do you want around?  A tense, panicky person?  Or a calm, relaxed person?

Relaxation does not mean “falling asleep at the wheel.”  It does not mean “screwing around, not getting anything done.”

Relaxed people are actually far more alert and present than tense, nervous people.

A relaxed person can accomplish in one hour what it might take a nervous person ten hours to do.

This does not mean, get down on yourself because you are an anxious person.

On the whole, your society trains people to be nervous and hypervigilant.  It is not your fault, and the people who conditioned you to be nervous did not know any better.

This is all about what you can do right now.

And one very useful thing you can do right now is to retrain yourself to have a different attitude about relaxation.

Relaxation is a very good thing.

Relaxation is never irresponsible.  In fact, relaxing is always a highly responsible act.

If you truly believe this, it will change your life for the better.

Relax.  Relax.  Relax.

Today we ask that you trust your heart.

You live in a dualistic reality.

In this reality, all things break down into polar opposites: life and death, male and female, up and down, light and dark, and so on. 

All creation and drama occurs in the interplay of dualistic forces.

In life, you are constantly being pulled back and forth between the heart and the mind.

The heart is aligned with the soul, or spirit.  It is aligned with deep, wordless feeling — an inner wisdom, an inner knowing.  It is inside.  And it is unaffected by what is going on externally.  It is associated with a deep peace and well-being.

When the heart is light, when the heart is at ease, you feel whole and calm.  You feel at home inside yourself, and therefore at home in the world.

The polar opposite of this is the mind, or the head.  It is also known as the ego, or the identity.

It continually races with thought.  It thinks and puzzles and ruminates.  It wants to know.  It is very wordy.  It is always trying to figure everything out — to come up with a new system, a new philosophy that will solve all your problems.

It tends to be anxious, fearful, and paranoid.  It never feels peaceful.  It always worries.  The world is terribly threatening to it.  It is home nowhere, at peace nowhere.  It is totally fixated on what is happening externally.

So: the degree of joy and peace you experience in life is entirely dependent in any given moment on whether or you are following your heart, or listening to your head.

There is nothing wrong with the thinking mind.  It can do great things, it is true.

But the thinking mind, when disconnected from the heart, is a terribly destructive force.  All dictators, all tyrants, all warmongers are humans who are in the grip of runaway thinking minds.

People in the grip of runaway minds are essentially insane.  Their thoughts run away with them, locking them into a nightmarish state of perpetual fear.  Such people are so frightened by their thoughts, that they will sometimes resort to violence to defend themselves.  All wars, all genocide begins in such a way.

Calm down.  Calm down.  Calm down.

Learn how to be quiet, and still.

It is only in stillness that the heart can be accessed.  It is wordless.  It exists only in the present moment. It is always available to you, and contains within it an ever-bubbling fountain of peace and well-being.

This grail will never be found in the external world.  It is not outside of you.  It does not exist in the future, or the past.

There, in that stillness, is freedom from the dualistic drama.  It is the center.  It is the still center.

The more you dwell within that center, the more full of peace and grace your life will be.

So please learn to be still, and listen to your heart.

Learn how to still the runaway train of the thinking mind — by meditating, breathing, doing yoga, energy work, massage, or any practice that calms the mind, and gets you back into your body.

Follow the heart.  Follow the heart.

Today we ask you to contemplate something that most of you will not believe, yet is true nonetheless.

It is this:

It is impossible to make mistakes, in your reality.

No one has ever made a mistake.

Nothing that has ever happened has been a mistake.

By “mistake,” we mean “something that should not exist.”

It is of course possible to make computational errors, or incorrectly answer a question on a test.

But “errors” are not “mistakes.”

You have never made an “error” that is a “mistake” — by which we mean, you have never done something that should not have happened.

Nothing has ever happened, that should not have happened.

Nothing is happening now, that should not be happening.

Nothing will ever happen, that should not happen.

We do not expect you to believe this.

And yet if you did, you would be free from all suffering.

By “suffering,” we mean “unnecessary pain.”

Pain happens.  Trauma happens.

But “suffering” happens when people believe that pain or trauma should not have happened, or be happening, or will ever happen.

That is what suffering is.

Suffering is the belief that certain things should not have happened in the past, or be happening now, or happen in the future.

Suffering exists because people believe in the possibility of mistakes in reality.

If you did not believe in the possibility of mistakes in reality, you would not suffer.

You might experience pain.  But you would not suffer.

Suffering comes from a rejection of what is happening.  It is a rejection of reality itself.

There are no mistakes.

It is okay if you do not believe this.

Today we ask that you refrain from attempting to impose your beliefs on anyone else.

Many of you are very open-minded, tolerant people.  You do not think of yourselves as being people who impose your beliefs on others.  Yet you might be surprised.

Every time you sit in judgment over someone else, thinking they are living their lives in a wrong way or making wrong decisions, you are unconsciously wishing to impose your belief system on them.

From that desire, it is a short leap to impulsive action.  You may begin behaving in ways to subtly, or not-so-subtly, influence and coerce that person to behave differently.

It is one thing if someone is looking to you for help, or advice, or wisdom.

It is another thing to make judgmental or critical comments, or attempt to passively or aggressively manipulate someone else’s behavior.

Human beings would do well to learn to ask permission of each other much more than they do.

Wouldn’t it be nice if, before someone launched into a criticism of you, that person asked your permission first?  In an environment where you felt completely comfortable saying: “No, I actually don’t wish to hear that right now.”

It is one thing to ask for, and receive, constructive feedback.  It another to be attacked.

Yet humans feel it is their right to criticize and attack other humans.  They generally do this a great deal more than they give praise.

So just notice this, in yourself.

Moments when you jump in to correct and criticize, and tell other people how they ought to do things — when they have not asked for this from you.

That goes even with the all the material you read here.

If you choose to read this material, you have consented to do so.  But certainly you should never feel that you must act on it — especially if it does not feel right for you.

To know what is right for you, you must know yourself.

No one else can know what is right for you.  Just as you cannot know what is right for anyone else.

Today we ask that you know the value of a clear mind.

There is nothing more valuable than a clear, stable mind.

A clear, stable mind is sane.  It is peaceful.  It is capable of clear thought.  It is creative.  It is compassionate.  It is logical.  It can make clear decisions.

It is not reactive, compulsive, violent, or addictive.  It is not insane.

Very few people in the world have truly clear minds.

When your mind is clear and stable, you feel a deep sense of well-being.

It is very difficult to keep a clear mind in your world.  This is in part because most of the information and material that you ingest into your mind via television and the internet is highly destabilizing.

Some of you know the value of “detoxing” your body — by going on a very simple, healthful diet, and fasting from heavy and sweet foods.

Most of you are in desperate need of a “mental detox.”

How very good it would be for most of you to go on a one week fast from TV, and the internet.

You would feel like changed people.  Clear, calmer, more stable in your minds.

And truly, your lives would not end if you were not up on the latest news for one week.

Even if you cannot fast for a full week, any amount of “mental detox” would be good for you.

The mind cannot ingest and process all the information you are taking in.  It was not designed to do so.  It is evolving as rapidly as it can to meet the demands your society places on it — but it is past its capacity.

A whole host of illnesses arises from chronic mental overstimulation — insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and many other stress-related symptoms.

Give your brains a well-deserved break.

The world will not end if you do not check Facebook and Twitter for a week.

And you will feel so much better.

Almost everyone is in desperate need of a “mental detox.”

Today we ask that you know what is true and real in your world.

Yesterday, we spoke of impermanence.  This is the idea that all things must pass.

And it is true that all material things do pass.  Houses, cathedrals, works of art, physical bodies.  Empires, dynasties.  All these things do pass.

But there is one thing that does not pass.

And that is love.

Love exists in the present moment.  It is therefore eternal.  It does not pass.

Things pass, it is true.

But if you stepped into a time machine, and were whisked 20,000 years into the future, into a world that was utterly unrecognizable to you, you would still recognize one thing:

Love.

If an alien spaceship teleported you into another dimension, you would respond to warmth and love just as you do right now.

Humans live with animals.  You are different species, and share no common language.  Yet you have no difficulty communicating with your pets.  You love them, and they love you.

So love is universal.  It transcends space, time, and form.  It is recognizable everywhere.

And it does not pass.

When you think of someone you love who has left the physical body, that love remains fresh, and vibrant.  The warmth comes flooding back, undimmed by the passage of time.

Works of art that last a long time do so because of the love their creators put into them.  They do not last forever, it is true.  But the love is not lost.

It is a mystery.  It is not easy to explain, or prove: how in a universe in which all things are impermanent, love is never lost.

And yet this is so.  Matter becomes energy.  Energy becomes matter.  Physicists understand that there is no loss of energy, as things shift from form to formlessness, and back again.

When love is a part of things, even when the physical form passes, the love remains.  In truth, there is not a single thing in your reality that is not permeated by love.

So: you live in a world of form.  In that world, nothing is permanent.  Things are created, things dissolve.

Things that the ego attaches to, like wealth and fame — these are, of course, impermanent.  There were many silent film stars who were known all over their world in their day.  Today, most of you would not recognize them, or know their names.  So it goes.

The things of the ego do not last.

But the love remains.  Today, if you watch a silent film, though you may not recognize the stars, you will clearly perceive the love they put into their work, if it is there to be seen.  You will respond to that love.

Love is real.  Nothing else is.

There is a Voice that will tell you that if nothing is permanent, then everything is hopeless.  Why do anything, if it will die and be forgotten?

But that Voice does not tell the truth.

Love, which exists in the present moment, is undying.  It cannot be lost, or forgotten.

Love is real.  Nothing else is.