Life can get pretty overwhelming. We all carry burdens and it’s easy to feel stuck or weighed down by everything that’s happening—personally and globally. In this talk, I share a perspective that’s been helpful for me when things feel tough: a way to deal with the hard stuff while also opening up to the good things that are still true.

I explore some wisdom from Buddhism, a bit of poetry (thanks Leonard Cohen!), and some stories and tools I’ve picked up on my own journey. (Scroll down below the video to see the list of quotes I drew inspiration from.)

I also share a simple approach we can all use: Deal with the bad, turn to the good, and take in the good. It’s about facing challenges without ignoring them, finding what’s nourishing amidst the mess, and actually letting the good moments sink in so they can strengthen you over time.

This isn’t about pretending life isn’t hard—it’s about building up the resilience and peace to handle it. We can all stay grounded, grow compassion (even when it’s not easy), and find a sense of calm spaciousness inside, no matter what’s going on around us.

Click here to join the free Wednesday Meditations – which are open to everyone!

Meditation: Resting in Openness, Lovingness, Peacefulness

Talk: The Good News That’s Still True

This is a copy of the graphic I referred to in my talk:

And here is a list of the quotes I drew inspiration from or referred to:

I know your burden’s heavy

As you wheel it through the night.
The guru says it’s empty.
That doesn’t make it light.

— Leonard Cohen

Equanimity is the ground for wisdom and freedom and the protector of compassion and love. While some may think of equanimity as dry neutrality or cool aloofness, mature equanimity produces radiance and warmth of being.

— Gil Fronsdal, Tricycle, Summer 2023, p. 37

Wonderful it is to train the mind,
so swiftly moving, seizing whatever it wants.
Good is it to have a well-trained mind,
for a well-trained mind brings happiness.

— Dhammapada 3.35

How very happily we live
Free from busyness
Among those who are busy.
Among busy people,
Free from busyness we dwell.

— Dhammapada 199

Have compassion for everyone you meet,
even if they don’t want it. What seems conceit, 
bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign 
of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen.
You do not know what wars are going on
down there where the spirit meets the bone.  From The Ways We Touch: Poems.

—Miller Williams

For the Children
The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us.

The steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all 
go down.

In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it. 

To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:
stay together
learn the flowers
go light

— Gary Snyder, from Turtle Island, reprinted in Tricycle, Fall 2022, p. 120

In the dark of the moon,
in flying snow,
in the dead of winter,
war spreading,
families dying,
the world in danger,
I walk the rocky hillside, sowing clover. 

— Wendell Berry, 1968