If this were the *only* talk available, and we listened to it over and over again, there's everything we need to wake up in this very talk! (that could probably be said of all his talks. as always, boundlessly grateful!) I've often wondered, as I intend to maintain continuous mindfulness in daily life, mindful of *what*? I've often thought it was "mindful of the present moment," but that's not specific enough. And Joseph answered the mystery "it's wisdom that cuts through delusion .... it's the truth that liberates, not your efforts to be free ... what wisdom? seeing the three characteristics." Seeing the three characteristics! (impermanence, suffering, no self) THANK YOU! You know how Joseph offers us Dhamma gems to repeat to ourselves, like "already pacified" "dead end" "anything can happen at any time" [what are the others?] In this talk, I gained a new one "no place to land." (Listen to the talk, you'll get it.) That's one of the beauties of the Buddha's teachings, they're so simple! we like to complexify things. Another gem in this talk is Joseph's suggestion to investigate for clarity when we feel inner turbulence, ask ourselves "what is this? fear? frustration? sadness? unhappiness? anger? loneliness? boredom? rage? The process of discerning clarity can be of tremendous help in acceptance, because we cannot accept it if we don't know what it is." This was an amazing suggestion! Every morning I find I wake up with "bad feelings" and "negative emotions," but that's not very clear, is it? I investigated further, and found that it was fear, fear that I I wouldn't be able to attend or complete everything I thought I should *do* in the day. Now I can deal skillfully with the fear; worth so much!! __/\__ :-)
