I thought for myself and for all beings, when we sit, we can touch the stability and groundedness of the earth; we can open to the vastness of the sky; we can recognize that we are the lightening rod connecting heaven and earth. We have an opportunity to strengthen and vitalize that connection. The world karma unfolding now is something we cannot predict or control –- it is a force with an energy and lifespan of its own that will exhaust itself in its own time. But we do have a choice. We have a choice about the kind of relationship we will forge with this karma. Will it be a relationship fraught with fear and anxiety, unsettled, ungrounded, and disconnected to any source of sanity and compassion? Or will it be a relationship that relaxes in the flowing energy of change, of emotional upheaval, of not-knowing?

Can we hold in mind/body the truth that we are meant to be here now, to experience and feel all the energies surging around and through us? Can we recognize the truth that these energies are a radiant expression of love –- of the beauty and tragedy of being human? When you sit, feel the earth. When you sit, feel the sky. Remember that you came here, that you took up this path, to learn what it really means to be fully human, awake and aware, in suffering and in joy, holding still in the middle of the fire.

–Lama Liz Monson