I notice that far too often, I let my mind run wild. I don’t mean I’m completely undisciplined – I have a meditation practice and you probably do, too. So we’re not completely undisciplined. But I don’t know about you: when I look at the news, my mind tends to run wild.

Looking more closely, though, I realize it’s not so much mind running wild, as heart running scared. I see or hear something, and my heart automatically runs. Or contracts. And the mind follows, and the wildness starts. 

But wildness isn’t a forgone conclusion. When I can stay with my scared, contracted heart, and gently invite it to open, I see what’s really happening: I’m so sad, because of how much I care. And then, everything can change: the heart can soften, the mind has more choices, and wisdom might even arise. And sometimes not only wisdom, but love.