We must be willing to give up what we are

 in order to become what we aspire to be. 

To learn how to ride a bike, we had to lift our feet off the ground, place them on the pedals, and then frantically steer the handlebars once our father let go of the bike. We also had to let go—of our fear of crashing. Learning to swim, we had to let go the side of the pool. Going to college, we had to leave home and go live with a bunch of strangers.

Becoming a bike rider, a swimmer, a college student required us to leave what we knew and who we were, and sally forth into the unknown. Essentially, we had to leave a familiar place to arrive at a new one. That venturing forth wasn’t easy.

But venture forth, we did. Why? We were enthralled by the possibility of what we could become. Working to achieve our dreams took courage and imagination. And determination. We deemed the freedom to be gained every time we succeed to be worth the effort.

But someday, we’ll realize that they were nothing compared to the freedom we will gain venturing forth to awakening.

Come away from your mistakes . . . (Click image for video)

Is our chanting session 

a superhighway or a country lane? 

Remember the time you were so absorbed in what you were doing that you forgot about the time?

Now think of your last chanting session.

Did time pass as quickly? In the first example, you were doing something you really enjoyed. In the chanting example, it was something you knew you should do, and even wanted to, but focus was simply elusive. Goodness, all those wandering thoughts! What to do?

Chanting can be like driving on a superhighway or on a country road. If it’s like the latter, we drive along enjoying the scenery, stop to visit the town we’re passing through, get a bite to eat, check out the park, and amble back to our car. Enjoyable, but it’s going to take a long time to reach our destination. Taking the superhighway, we don’t stop to see all the various sights because that would require us to get off the highway. There’s no time for that.

We need to focus on our driving, on “Amituofo,” because we want to get to our destination ASAP.