Written By: MJ Friedman ~Image By: D. Thatcher Images 2015
“There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies, my brain and my heart are my temples: my philosophy is kindness.”
Dalai Lama
In my last blog post on the documentary The Ten Questions for the Dalai Lama, about the life of his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, I mentioned the importance his daily spiritual practice is to his teachings and how it relates to his ability to lead by example as a man who walks in peace and love. His routine is spiritually vigorous and perhaps the amount of time he spends in practice correlates somewhat to his extraordinary level of kindness and compassion. For most of us though in our modern lives, his schedule would not be practical, and I believe he would not expect that from us. He rises early at 3 am, showers and starts his day with prayers, meditations and in gratitude. After breakfast he prays and meditates more, plus fits in world studies and all his other duties, and then finishes his day with more prayer and meditation. While need time in meditation, and should devote time to it on a daily basis, we can also learn to see opportunities in every moment for being mindful. By living with love and kindness in our hearts in every moment we are practicing. There are simple things we can incorporate into our busy lives towards our spiritual practice that on a busy day need take only 10 minutes a day, such as:
• Be kind to someone
• Smile, and laugh
• Meditate for at least ten minutes every day, (you can even do this in a parking lot while in your car, or on the train or in a bus!)
• Take Tee’s awareness walk in nature
• Express gratitude for all the beautiful plants and animals you see
• Hug a tree
• Listen to the high vibrational music in our meditation player gifted to all by our friend David Young
• Light a candle to help you set a healing intention for someone
• Pray
• Chant the Om or whatever chant makes you feel good
• Create a gratitude journal that you add to every day
• Fill your heart with love and send it out to areas of the world in need
• Sit in quiet self-reflection
• Mindfully eat your meals
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