Our mind is like a puppy.

I love Tricycle, the buddhist magazine. Here are some of my favorite daily dharmas.

Coming Back
For some, [the] task of coming back a thousand or ten thousand times in meditation may seem boring or even of questionable importance. But how many times have we gone away from the reality of our life?–perhaps a million or ten million times! If we wish to awaken, we have to find our way back here with our full being, our full attention. . . In this way, meditation is very much like training a puppy. You put the puppy down and say, “Stay.” Does the puppy listen? It gets up and runs away. You sit the puppy back down again. “Stay.” And the puppy runs away over and over again. Sometimes the puppy jumps up, runs over and pees in the corner, or makes some other mess. Our minds are much the same as the puppy, only they create even bigger messes. In training the mind, or the puppy, we have to start over and over again.

–Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart

from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

Isn’t it so true? I find my mind trying to fit every random thought into every second of my day. When I started practicing meditation and mindfulness, it is such a relief to understand our own mind. I didn’t even realize how distracting I was to myself!

Journey to Wisdom and Happiness
The Buddha’s maps for the journey to wisdom and happiness are attractive to many people because they are so simple. Essentially, he taught that it doesn’t make sense to upset ourselves about what is beyond our control. We don’t get a choice about what hand we are dealt in this life. The only choice we have is our attitude about the cards we hold and the finesse with which we play our hand.

When the Buddha taught his ideas twenty-five hundred years ago, many people understood him so well as soon as they heard him that they were happy ever after. The people who didn’t understand him immediately needed to practice meditation, and then they understood.

–Sylvia Boorstein, It’s Easier Than You Think

from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

I believe very deeply in Buddha’s teachings. I love the metaphor of life and cards. You only live once, so why not make the most of it- bruises and all.