As a swimmer, who cherishes the activity for its meditative solitude, I relate to the incident described. I find myself judging the lane blocker as an inconsiderate woman. There was room in the lane for both and not only did she not stay on one side, but she hit the swimmer. The story teller may have accessed the meditative calm to absorb that angry and invasive presence and convert it into compassion, yet the story lingered to eventually need release in this writing. In her situation, I would want to give myself permission to allow my story to be released gently back in the moment. I would want the gumption and presence to calmly say "Ouch! that hurt. You are a strong woman." I would like to leave the pool with "Enjoy your exercise class" shoutout to her. But even as I write this I know that the presence, gumption and calm are immediately lost when I am hurt. Unhooking from judgment and fear is not going to save me from getting hurt. Nothing is. Simply accepting my truth that sometimes I hurt and being able to own and bear that kindly, is what I wish for.

Fish riding a camel, dancer lying on a church floor, the images of being on the Path are so vivid and alive. Why do we live so confined when there is so much to explore? I take the time to dance and get thirsty again for this thirst is what makes us alive. 

 wishing you courage and success in your quest. you are brave and strong. power to you.

 Well said David.

 Being means awareness that I am. Just that. I am. I allow myself to happen, just as I am. When I start to think about what is conditioned thinking and what is truly me, I am already moving away from simply being. The conditioned me is also just meant to be, just as it is. Accept it and just be.

Our language reflects our thinking and concepts. When there is no word in a language, the very concept does not exist. In Hindi, there is no word for boredom or being bored. If you want to talk about being bored in Hindi, you still have to use the English word for it, because being bored is a foreign concept in India. The closest Hindi idea is 'ji ub gaya hai' which literally means I have had my heart's fill of it. And what is wrong with knowing that you have had enough of something? It is time to move on to what your heart wishes for next. Get on with it. It is a terrible thing to waste life's precious moments on something your heart has already had enough of. And it is a good thing to know what your heart wishes for and how much of it, more of some things than others. That is the nature of life and wishes. Wishing everyone all their heart's desires and a full heart of it, so you can get to being bored/ fulfilled.  

 I know a kid whose mom works late at night so she sleeps in the morning, leaving him to get up on his own, get his own breakfast and get himself to school by bus. He does this day after day. Occasionally, he is a tired young man who sleeps through his alarm and misses the bus, and get to school late. Ten unexcused absences had him hauled in to principal's office with orders to attend Saturday school to make up for the missed school time. He thinks he needs more will power to make himself get up everyday and not be late again. Hie mother thinks he is an exceptionally strong willed young kid who needs to be allow himself the compliment that he accomplishes what not too many kids are doing at his age. The two mislaid bricks are like the 10 absences on his school attendance. Who, other than his mother, can see that he gets himself to school on time with no assistance on all other 170 days, while other parents are urging their kids to wake-up, fixing them breakfasts and driving them to school !

Pain in inevitable - suffering is optional. Cancer patient who can smile and say it's a good day. Listening to spiritual leaders and remembering their beautiful smile more than their words. When someone hits you, to reach past your pain and stay connected to your inner calm and say: "brother you don't need to do this - come visit my home". Infant's and grandmother's genuine smile, for they don't worry about what other's will think of them. The Dalai Lama and Rev. Desmond Tutu are always ready with a laugh, that I am envious of. Lovely circle of sharing creating ripples of joy all around. Thank you all.  

 I was going for a stressful meeting to seek justice knowing that none may be available, when two pennies lifted my spirits, and made me stand taller in still asking for it. A convenient parking spot in an otherwise difficult to park area where the meeting was. And, a lovely bloom laden tree right outside the building,reminding me that there is no justice even in the tree giving its beauty and bounty to all for no return in exchange. I felt well supported as I went in to seek justice because that was all I had to find courage to do. Not getting justice did not matter much. My duty ended with speaking my truth and standing up for what I believed in. Both the pennies facilitated my process in that. 

 Absence of environmental stress makes it easier to relax into my natural state of being connected to my inner calm, and that is why I love being in nature. I find that when I am in a stressful environment (e.g. a hostile workplace) I tend to seek out calm places (the terrace garden or yoga class) as my escape and coping mechanism, to reconnect with my inner calm. This evening, I was dancing with family in a pre-wedding function, laughing and enjoying together, in the very same room in the very same house where just a little over a year ago, we were all gathered tearfully with heavy hearts to say our final farewells to the recently deceased matriarch of the family. The place is the same, the people are the same, the emotions are radically different and yet there is the awareness of the observer in me that is alive to experience it all, bringing the past sadness into the joyful present and letting go of both to cherish the fullness of being alive to experience it all. being alive is to experince life in all its colors, some light, some dark, each just as they are.    

 We are boundaryless divine creatures who are socialized into living with boundaries as we grow. Children play effortlessly with other children but adults hesitate, judge, assess, fear, and associate with selected few. If we can stay connected to our inner child, we can stay connected to all, and wonder at the vastness of the universe that we are all a part of. A number of struggles in my life have come from being told that I don't get the concept of boundaries, but all the joys have always come from being infinitely bundaryless too, so I keep unravelling and enjoying it all.

Sweets are my weakness too, and I have to go eat one just now, simply from reading this paasage. I always have six flavors of ice cream in my freezer and having that abundance handy was the way for me to stop eating it compulsively. It is just reassuring to have it, should I want to indulge, and now I seldom over indulge in ice-cream. But other sweets can still be an issue sometimes. It is good to have permission to indulge occasionally and not be carrying guilt for it all the time. When my friends come for dinner, and start to read the small print on the ice-cream container to see the calorie content, I have to protest and remind them to simply enjoy it for what it is. It may not be good for the body but it can be good for the soul when it is comforting in its own way. Why ruin the enjoyment of eating it by focusing on the label when we already know it is not good in excessive amounts. Just indulge responsibly. Lord Krishna loved butter so much that he would steal it to satisfy his cravings, and there is no guilt associated with that !

Thoughts can be used creatively, with training and awareness. Monkey mind can be tamed, with practice. If I did not belief that, I would not be teaching critical thinking !
On intuitive intelligence, sometimes I just know what I need to do, without thought, without rationale, without it being impulsive too -- but with clarity, almost perfect clarity. It feels absolutely right. That, to me, is intuitive intelligence. I have no choice and I am content or rather happy to have no choice, because even if I did, I would still be compelled to just do that which feels right in every which way. Interviewing to get into a prestigious college, I was waiting in the corridor outside the interview room, sizing up the other candidates, competition. One of them was pacing restlessly and somehow I knew she was going to be my friend. We both were accepted to the college, were okay friends, but now 30 years on, are still friends and perhaps best of friends. The initially weak ties have survived so much, despite living half a world apart and only connecting infrequently. She knew I was a poet before I had ever told her or anyone else about any of my poems. She just knew too. We see and hear each other as no one else does. This is intuitive intelligence.

 This is a practice, daily, hourly, by the moments. Only then can it serve in life's turning points. I had a restless mother who called me lazy for doing less. At work, I was considered a workaholic for I did a lot more than most. I simply do what comes through me easily. I am neither lazy nor a workaholic. I am simply aware that I have some gifts that allow me to contribute to do my share for the world. I am merely an instrument played by the deep nature within and without, connected and in harmony.

 So beautiful & romantic. Thank you for sharing.

 If you love it, let it go. Set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours. If it doesn't, it was never meant to be.

I agree with this call to action except I'd like to challenge the statement in the final paragraph."..being an active participant in your own awakening to Truth is neither easy nor safe". I would like to say that it may not be easy but it is safe. In fact, it is the only safe reliable anchor, your inner voice that you can rely on. Even though it may not seem to be easy in the moment, just trust the Truth and step forward to take the leap of faith for you will land safely eventually - in your own Truth and one with the Universal Truth. If you let fear get in the way, you will live a lie and live to regret it someday. It was painful for me to acknowledge that my marriage was dead, but staying in a dead marriage would have been to kill myself as the authentic person. It was very hard but it was the right thing to do to move away from the soul destroying experience. And it took a long time to find my bearings and new friends, but I am there now. I am safe for having walked away from the sham to discover my own place in the world.

Today we are literally in a struggle to even save the seed, rather than honoring it. Geneticaly modified seeds are created to self-destruct or kill 'pests' who might feed on these plants, are designed so the farmer has to buy afresh everytime, bringing in the profits for the corporations. It is just plain sad. Mercifully, there are people working to preserve seed banks, as in http://www.navdanya.org/  As a metaphor, I find that I have many seeds in me, some of which blossomed and others did not, depending on what I fed and nourished.