Progress in our cultivation 

comes from small everyday improvements.  

We don’t want to wait for significant challenges in life to work on our cultivation. We need to work on improving it in small ways every day. How?

We can cultivate fearlessness by supporting a harried co-worker worried about an impending deadline. Or seeing a raccoon trapped in a dumpster. 

We can work on equanimity while waiting in line to reschedule our cancelled flight.

Or on patience when our children are each telling us their version of how the lamp was broken.

Gradually, we will become more adept at our cultivation. Then, thankfully, when we run up against life’s more trying challenges, we will be better skilled at reacting prudently and calmly. To those who haven’t attempted this cultivation, it may seem easy. But the reality is that even minor acts in our cultivation require much persistence to accomplish them well. To see how we’re progressing, we can keep asking ourselves, “Am I doing this the best I can?”