in november, i told you about a book i was reading, be the change: how meditation can transform you and the world by ed and deb shapiro. in the next few days, i’d like to present you with a few more excerpts from it. the last part of the book, entitled “transforming us transforms the world” is one that i was immediately drawn to; after all, that’s what my work is all about. as i said in a post a few years ago:
making lives better, making better lives – that’s the motto of my practice. making lives better: that means not just limping along through our days but actually taking our lives into our own hands and making something really good out of it. enhancing our lives wherever it’s possible.
making better lives means that once we’ve enhanced our lives, often we naturally want to pass this on. our cup runneth over, and now we want help make other lives better, in whatever small and big, silly and serious ways.
so let me present you with the words of some people who have similar thoughts. here is judith ansara, who is quoted in the book as saying:
my meditation practice has evolved over the years so that it is not separate from another part of my life. it is not separate from my reaching out to touch another, from getting my guests some tea, from working with a client, from being kind to someone in a grocery line. it is the fabric of my life rather than something i do. it is the awareness of breath, of sensation, and the intention to leave a trail of beauty behind me. when i go to the grocery store, how can i leave a trail of beauty behind me? when i am working with a client, how can i do that? it is taking meditation off the cushop so that everywhere we go we leave a trail of beauty.