Remember..........................

     Wanting and fearing are natural energies, part of evolution's design to protect us and help us thrive.  But when they become the core of our identity, we lose sight of the fullness of our being.  We become identified with, at best, only a sliver of our natural being—a sliver that perceives itself as incomplete, at risk and separate from the rest of the world.  If our sense of who we are is defined by feelings of neediness and insecurity, we forget that we are also curious, humorous, and caring.  We forget about the breath that is nourishing us, the love that unites us, the enormous beauty and fragility that is our shared experience in being alive.  Most basically, we forget the pure awareness, the radiant wakefulness that is our Buddha nature.

-Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha