Book Recommendation – Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames by Thich Nhat Hanh

“When we get angry, we suffer. If you really understand that, you also will be able to understand that when the other person is angry, it means that she is suffering. When someone insults you or behaves violently towards you, you have to be intelligent enough to see that the person suffers from his own violence and anger. But we tend to forget. We think that we are the only one that suffers, and the other person is our oppressor. This is enough to make anger arise, and to strengthen our desire to punish. We want to punish the other person because we suffer. Then, we have anger in us; we have violence in us, just as they do. When we see that our suffering and anger are no different from their suffering and anger, we will behave more compassionately. So understanding the other is understanding yourself, and understanding yourself is understanding the other person. Everything must begin with you.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Anger

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Thoughts on Parenting

 

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You will be gone soon but the children will be here. And nobody can manage anybody else’s life. Though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit even in your dreams. God will take care. It is none of your business to be too concerned. Whatsoever we can do, we do, but one should not hanker about things going the way you want. That is very egoistic.   You have given birth to a child, but once he is out of the womb he is free of you. First he depended for his breath on you when he was in the womb. Then he will take his own breath. Continue reading

Create the energy to act against cruelty

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. Continue reading

Lessons in Creating a Service Culture based on Kindness and Compassion not on greed and spin doctoring


 

Rosa Parks – Parks’ act of defiance and the Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

Turning our fear and anger into opportunities

Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die - Buddha

Much of our suffering comes from wrong perceptions. To remove that hurt, we have to remove our wrong perception. Continue reading