Welcome, everyone. Before we begin our practice today, I’d like to share a story with you, one rooted in Buddhist teachings, that speaks to the nature of our worries and how they often consume us.

Once, there was a young monk who lived in a serene monastery high in the mountains. This monk was always anxious, constantly fretting about the future. He worried about his studies, his duties, and what the next day would bring. His mind was never at peace, always tangled with thoughts of what might happen next.

One day, the wise abbot of the monastery noticed the young monk’s distress and called him to his chamber. The abbot handed the monk a small jar filled with water and a handful of sand.

“Pour this sand into the jar and shake it,” the abbot instructed. The monk did as he was told, and soon the water in the jar became murky and unclear.

“Now, put the jar down and wait,” the abbot said.

The young monk watched as the sand slowly settled to the bottom of the jar, leaving the water clear once again. The abbot then spoke gently, “Our minds are like this jar of water. When we fill them with worries and shake them with anxiety, our clarity disappears. But if we allow ourselves to be still, our thoughts settle, and we can see clearly once more.”

The young monk understood. He realized that his constant worrying was like shaking the jar, preventing him from seeing the present moment clearly. Over time, with the abbot’s guidance, he learned to let go of his anxieties and embrace the peace of the present.

In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali speaks of the importance of calming the fluctuations of the mind. Sutra 1.2 states, “Yoga chitta vritti nirodha,” meaning “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.” When we let go of our worries and allow our minds to settle, we can achieve a state of yoga, a state of union and clarity.

Similarly, in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna advises Arjuna to perform his duties without attachment to the results. In Chapter 2, Verse 47, Krishna says, “You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions.” By focusing on the present moment and our actions, rather than worrying about the outcomes, we find peace and clarity.

In our lives, we often become consumed with worries about the future. We stress about what might happen tomorrow, next week, or even next year. But if we look back, we often find that the things we worried about a year ago have faded from our memory, their significance lost in the passage of time.

As we begin our practice today, let’s take a moment to acknowledge our worries and then, like the monk, allow them to settle. Let’s focus on the present moment, the here and now, finding clarity and peace within ourselves.

Take a deep breath in, and as you exhale, imagine your worries settling to the bottom of your mind, leaving your thoughts clear and your heart open.

Let’s begin.

“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.” – E. Joseph Cossman

“If we feed and nurture the present, the future will manifest itself.”

“When you relate to thoughts obsessively, you are actually feeding them because thoughts need your attention to survive. Once you begin to pay attention to them and categorize them, then they become very powerful. You are feeding them energy because you are not seeing them as simple phenomena. If one tries to quiet them down, that is another way of feeding them.”

“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. Even if we run a hundred miles an hour to the other side of the continent, we find the very same problem awaiting us when we arrive.” Pema Chadron

You will continue to suffer if you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. True power is sitting back and observing things with logic. True power is restraint. If words control you, that means everyone else can control you. Breathe and allow things to pass. – Warren Buffett.

In first Down Dog:

“Before you heal someone, ask him if he’s willing to give up the things that make him sick.” – Hippocrates

“They say that the loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged people are the wisest. All because they do not wish to see anyone else suffer the way they do. The only thing more exhausting than being sad is pretending you’re not. Maybe it’s time for the fighter to be fought for, the holder to be held, and the lover to be loved.” David Scott

“Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.” – Dalai Lama

What is your passion… “If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” – Steve Jobs

“Success isn’t the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.”

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success.”-Thomas J. Watson (IBM CEO)

“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mixed Bag

Sadness (Depression) is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer. You have the key.

“She knew she was really sad, when she stopped loving the things she loved. She was just another broken doll, dreaming of a boy with glue.” – Atticus “But only you truly know how to put yourself together when you fall apart.

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.

“Loving Kindness and compassion are the salve that heals the wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more painful than physical scars.” – David Scott

“In the storm, our only anchor is hope.”

“More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More blessed, less stressed. More love, less indifference.”

Lisa Miller, professor and director of Clinical Psychology, Columbia University “A thickening of the brain cortex associated with regular meditation or other spiritual or religious practice could be the reason those activities guard against depression – particularly in people who are predisposed to the disease…”

“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.”—Dr. Viktor E. Frankl

It’s easy to stand with the crowd it takes courage to stand alone. Be brave enough to stand for what you believe in, even if it means you stand alone

The fears we don’t face, become our limits.

“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” – Anthony Robbins

“Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” – Will Rogers

“People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Rob Siltanen

”We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.” -Mother Teresa

“Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.” Buddha

“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou

“We generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by action.” – Dr. Henry Link

Love / Friendship

“The opposite of love is not hate; it’s indifference.” — Elie Wiesel

“Love is the hardest habit to break and the most difficult to satisfy.” — Drew Barrymore

“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.”-Jim Morrison

“Kind words are short and easy to say, but their echoes are truly endless” Mother Teresa.

“Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”-Mother Theresa

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.” -Alexander Graham Bell

Closing Options

“The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without.”-Elie Wiesel

“Keep calm and be crazy, laugh, love, and live it up because this is the oldest you’ve been and the youngest you’ll ever be again.”

“The same boiling water that softens the potato, hardens the egg, transforms in coffee. It’s about what you’re made of and not the circumstances that your in that define you.”