As you may recall from our past two sessions, I mentioned that there are 6 actions that you and I can take that will transform the world into a more peaceful and kindhearted place.

The first was called “generosity,” which simply means the willingness to let down your guard. Rather than holding yourself back from your world until it meets some kind of requirements, you open to it exactly as it is. This is pretty generous.

The second paramita was called “discipline” and, here, rather than referring to some kind of rigid adherence to, well, anything: a code of ethics, a schedule, a personal agenda, as a way of creating happiness for yourself, we abandon any such intellectualized view in favor of placing attention on the present moment and allowing ourselves to be guided by it. Here, discipline simply means coming back. Starting over. Taking a fresh view, again and again.

The third paramita is called patience and, here, patience isn’t so much about forbearance or tolerating people and things you don’t like with a stiff upper lip—here, patience is more about giving up expectations, of rolling with things exactly as they are. When circumstances make you happy, you notice that, take it in, lean into it, don’t try to hold on. When they make you unhappy, you do the same. Repeat, repeat, repeat. As Choygam Trungpa says in Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, “Not expecting anything, we do not get impatient.” Which sounds great, but how the hell do you actually do that?

Check out the video for more info!