To learn from our teachers, we need . . . (Click image for video)

I resolve to refrain from anger. 

Instead, I will develop patience and 

the compassion to see the suffering of others. 

“Double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble.” The three witches in Macbeth were mixing a charm of terrible trouble by casting in poisoned entrails, eye of newt, toe of frog, and more.

We have our own messy hex of misery and strife, a recipe that includes annoyance, bitterness, outrage. Our life is not progressing well. Either we don’t get what we want, or we get what we don’t want. Nothing is complying with our wishes. And so we add wood to the fire and stir our cauldron of negative feelings, tossing in a dash of belligerence, a handful of aggression.

So engrossed are we in our emotional brew that we fail to realize that we’re choking on it and driving others away. The solution? Recognize others’ suffering as acutely as you discern your own. Be compassionate. And in the face of trying circumstances, patiently devote your energy to alleviating, not worsening, others’ suffering.

All too easily, harmless indulgences can become . . . (Click image for video)

I resolve to refrain from greed. 

Instead, I will open my heart 

and practice giving. 

It’s easy to give in to greed when we feel we’re the center of the universe.

It’s this skewed perspective that is contributing to our problems today. Problems faced by far too many people. Unawakened, we picture everything from the viewpoint of “I.” This will only end up in us expecting the world to conform to our wishes.

But what if we all wish for the hopes of others to be met before our own.

For instance, let’s imagine there are one hundred people in a room with several tubs of vegan ice cream. When everyone scrambles to dig in, there will be chaos. Some people will fill their bowls with ice cream. Others will end up with nothing in theirs.

But if everyone in the room puts the longing of others before their own, everyone will have a share. There will be one hundred happy ice cream eaters. Why? Because all hopes are met. Opening the door to their hearts is making everyone truly happy.