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?”

Complete work on time, and, ideally . . . (Click image for video)

Transformation takes time. 

Changing our habitual ways of doing thing takes time. But in a society craving instant gratification, this is a tough concept to accept. We don’t like waiting. We don't have time to be patient. We have a lot to do, and people expect things to be done—all are expecting quick results.

But effecting lasting change takes time.So in your practice, do not have expectations of fast achievements. In fact, don’t have any expectations at all.

Start from where you are, and gradually learn how to put the teachings into practice by starting with things that are easier to change. As you begin to improve in little ways, you will gain the confidence and experience to know how to change in more meaningful ways. Such changing and improving of yourself will take time. Understanding this, patiently give yourself the time you need.

Gradually, as you become more adept at changing, you will even begin to transform negative thoughts and bad habits into those that brighten your world and all who enter it.