Revealing how to smoothly navigate the cycles of spiritual life in openness, stillness, and intimacy, Jack explores the transformative beauty of living the Dharma.

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“There are different cycles. They are natural for us. We breathe in and out. Our heart opens and closes. Your heart isn’t supposed to stay open all the time, even flowers close at night. So don’t get some idea you’re supposed to be some certain state or some certain way. It’s more about flexibility, listening, and honoring what cycle you are in in your life.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• Navigating the cycles of spiritual life
• Spiritual practice as a voyage, a journey
• Openness and the necessity of letting go
• What we can learn from the change of seasons
• Cultivating the courage to live a spiritual life
• Rumi’s poem of the wisdom of the bird in the trap
• The peace of rejecting nothing whatsoever
• How Jack had to work his way down the chakras instead of up
• Embodying and experiencing your feelings
• Stillness, simplicity, intimacy and reconnecting with the earth
• A perspective-shifting Buddhist meditation on death and good deeds
• Overcoming self-judgement and unworthiness
• Non-attachment and commitment in relationships
• A tantric master’s wisdom on overcoming burnout
• The Dalai Lama’s surprising advice to Jack

“When you look back over your life, what really matters is, ‘How well have I loved?’ And that love is never done in generalities. It’s always done in a moment with a tree, or a spider, or a person that you meet, or a person close to you.” – Jack Kornfield

“In some way in life, that’s all that people around us want if you look—people mostly just want to be listened to and acknowledged.” – Jack Kornfield

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This Dharma Talk recorded on 7/14/1990 was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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