These sunny days, green hills, and the smell of spring are inspiring this week's talk on opening to the abundance of the moment. I'd like to explore with you how easy it is to get stuck in a rut of "not-enoughness". This could be a feeling of lack within your self or in your relationships with others. It might be how you view your life or society as a whole. How can we open our hearts and minds to see the fullness of life that is available and right in front of us? How can we use the practices of awareness and gratitude to come into a fuller acceptance of how things really are and find peace.

Though there are many different approaches and styles of practice they all have one common principle that neuroscience corroborates and other spiritual traditions agree on. This talk explores this unifying practice principle and how we can simply and effectively apply it both in formal practice and daily life when we're lost in the prison of our mind.

The Buddhist writer Wei Wu Wei says: "True humility is the absence of anyone to be proud." We are often humbled by life. How we handle it can either lead to defeat or profound growth. We will explore how being humbled can deepen our capacity to open to all of our experience and strengthen our confidence and trust as we align ourselves with something greater than ourself.

Kate prompted the sangha to write down question relating to integrating their practice with things on their mind, and she attempts to answer them.

Restlessness and Worry: what lies at the heart of this anxious hinderance. We'll explore how this classical hinderance destabilizes us and how to reclaim steadiness in our heart and mind. I'll introduce this theme in our guided meditation too so there will be an experiential component to the exploration. It should be a grounding and enjoyable evening.

Guided meditation before dharma talk