2009 was a year of remarkable discoveries, no? We discovered we could do with less than we thought. We discovered, for the gazillionth time, that money cannot buy happiness. We discovered that the world could look right side up one moment and upside down the next. We discovered new leadership for our country and the world. We (OK, I) discovered that a 27^th pair of jeans is simply not necessary and how much time and energy and money I spend craving possessions, hairdos, and tokens of success.

I discovered once again that when I’m focused on anything but love, I’m basically wasting my time. And by love I mean being myself completely, beyond all illusions, offering the best of myself to whomever happens to be around, and continuously acknowledging my  wish be loved, embraced, seen—without shame, agenda, or expectation.

In my Shambhala Buddhist lineage, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche encourages certain contemplations to be done on your birthday. Since today is a birthday for the world, I thought it would be appropriate to offer them to you. These are things to contemplate that will keep you composed and committed to the priorities that matter most.

OK? Ok!

To start, take a moment and calm your mind. Contemplate your own basic goodness until you become certain of it.  Take a moment to feel gratitude for your body, your speech, and your mind. They are yours and they have the ability to bring much beauty into the world.

From this space of appreciation and goodness, contemplate these truths, one at a time. (Contemplating something is different than thinking about it. Contemplation means holding these words in your mind and noticing what arises. You don’t have to do anything. If your mind strays from these words, simply bring it back. Your own wisdom will do the rest.)

My birth is a precious miracle that is impermanent. Within me is the ability to make my life a profound celebration of heart, a living expression of compassion for myself and others, beginning immediately.

Everything that arises also dissolves. If I can face this truth with courage, I will be able to appreciate everything and everyone with a love that comforts when comfort is required and shocks when things get too comfortable.

I am not alone in this world. Everything I do and everything I am is interconnected with all of existence. My every thought and action can create positive effects for myself and others.

Everything is completely OK, right now. There is nothing I can do, see, be, think, or attract that has the potential to make me any happier than what I possess at this very moment. It is all right here.

After contemplating these truths for awhile, let them go. Make the aspiration to live in truth, love, and good cheer in the coming year and all the days of your life. Offer gratitude to your lineage, your source of support. Maybe it’s your family or an organized religion, or maybe you see yourself as part of the lineage of artists, parents, activists, Romans, gardeners, or race car drives. We all have our lineage. Give thanks to yours and request its blessings.

In 2010, I wish you

The strength to be yourself utterly.

The clarity to pierce the veil of illusion around who you think you are supposed to be.

The courage to offer the best of yourself to whomever happens to be around, and

The intention to give voice to your own wish to be loved, embraced, seen—without shame, agenda, or expectation.

Love, Susan

Different people create different shrines in their homes. A shrine can help anchor a contemplative practice. Here is a pic of mine. Post a pic of yours!

To all you wonderful people out there and beyond, I have one thing to say to you. I love you!

Oh, and this too:

I’m honored to be included on twitter pal @minddeep’s list of 15 Great Women Buddhist Bloggers. May our individual and combined intentions create joy and peace for all beings! No matter what.

Click on image for full post.

108 Zen Books
Smilin Buddha Kabaret
Zen Dot Studio
Momma Zen
Jizo Chronicles
Becca Faith Yoga
Mama Dharma
Buddhist at Heart
The Asian Welder
Mama Om
Susan Piver
Mindful Purpose
Budding Buddhist
Dalai Grandma
Luminous Heart

This from the lovely Gail Goodwin’s (aka @inspiremetoday) blog and many wonderful folks on Twitter. She asked people to share the best wisdom they ever learned in 140 characters. My response was: I can say it in one word. “Relax.”

There is no doubt that the more we can relax around even our most painful or stressful situations–the more we can relax about each thought in turn and not grasp any one of them too hard–the more readily natural, indestructible, non-personal wisdom arises. And then you can channel that. Without really understanding how it all works.

The moment I think I’ve got a lock on the formula for wisdom is the moment I’ll know I’ve stepped out of the stream. It seems that not knowing, being uncertain, testing each moment afresh, experiencing great awkwardness is wiser, far wiser, than thinking you’ve got anything figured out. After all, whatever you have figured out can only have applied to the past, perhaps not to the present. Letting go of that knowing is the only way to tell…

Check out what some other lovely people have said over at Gail’s blog.

Appearing in the current issue of the fabulous, wonderful, beloved Shambhala Sun. (They are having an amazing auction next week. Check it out.)

We’re moving. After nearly 10 yrs in one house. We weren’t necessarily planning to do this. I have been wanting to move for quite some time. We live in a suburb and I’m just not a suburb type person. So we’d been looking casually for maybe 3 years. (!!)

I was hoping for something more citified. A loft perhaps. Situated in a place that had a sense of community. Bohemian-y. Nothing trendy or glam.

Everything we looked at was either too small, too expensive, or too cheesy. Then I stumbled upon this 2200 sq ft loft in our price range in a converted factory building that had once been restricted to artists. The building has its own gallery and seems to still have a large population of painters and photographers. There are 155 units in two buildings with a beautiful courtyard in between. Our unit opens on to the courtyard and is situated in a single-story ell–so there is no unit above and there are giant skylights.

We made an offer. They said yes. We said, wha?! There had been no expectation they would accept it but they did and here we go.

Big renovation plans: taking down walls, new kitchen, floors, etc.

Big money terrors.

Big, rough marital terrain.

Bring it on.

Pictures here.

I’m involved as a partner in an internet publishing startup called Essential10! My job is Chief Creative Officer, which is the coolest title ever.

We’re looking for books!!

Here is our tagline:

Essential10® is a digital publishing company that redefines the author-reader relationship by making it easy to publish succinct, interactive books for busy people.

We will only publish for the iPhone store, the Kindle store, and as an Ebook.

What is an Essential10 Book?
An E10 book will contain 10 things anyone thinks everyone should know about something. You can be an expert in your field, an expert in your own mind, or both…

Each book will contain 10 essential points about the subject of your choice.

What Makes E10 (Quite) Different
A book can be as long or as short as an author likes. A recommended length is 2500-10000 words (15-30 pages), but if you need to express yourself in 500 or 50000 words, go for it.

The author sets whatever price he or she wants to charge for their book. We recommend between $0.99 and $4.99, but if you think you can get $199.99, go for it. Like if you’re General McChrystal and you want to write The Essential 10 Secrets to Creating Peace in Afghanistan and the World, you could probably charge a pretty penny even if it was only 10 sentences long.

The author can change the price of the book anytime he or she wants. So you can experiment with charging $9.99 and if it doesn’t work, got to $2.99 and see what happens.

The manuscript is always live, meaning the author can change the manuscript anytime he or she wants. (There will be a small charge for revising more than two times.) An E10 book can always be updated and made current.

The community will discuss, review, and rate the books. A good book is one that serves as a focal point for creating a community of interest –these will become our best sellers.

The playing field is equal and sales will be based on actual merit rather than marketing strategies or track record.

And here are the kickers:

The author gets 75% of each sale.

It only costs $49 to be published and within 3 days, your book will be available for sale on the iPhone, Kindle store, and as an eBook. If you charge $4.99 per book, you only need to sell 10 to recoup your investment.

Why You Might Write an E10 Book
You possess expertise that you’d like to share.

You want to write and publishing something because it is your dream to do so.

You want to demonstrate that your ideas can sell before trying to get a publishing deal.

You have a book coming out that you’d like to promote and your E10 book will introduce people to it.

You have a business you’d like to promote.

You’re a publisher and you want to repurpose your backlist.

You have pre-existing material you’d like to repurpose for a wider or different audience.

You don’t know why you want to do it, you just do.

What E10 Will Do For You
Format your book for the iPhone store and sell it via our iPhone app and/or

Create an iPhone app for your book (costs extra)

Format your book for the Kindle store on Amazon and make it available for sale

Create an eBook from your manuscript and make it available for sale on our site

Give you a personalized author page on our website to promote yourself, your book, and your other activities

What E10 Will Not Do For You
Tell you what to write.

Tell you how long your book needs to be or what you should charge for it.

Publish you, if what you write is pornographic or incites hate.

Examples of E10 Books

Essential10 Most Poisonous Snakes of Costa Rica

Essential10 Things Every College Graduate Should Understand About Money

Essential10 Points of Mindful Leadership

Essential10 Guide to Building a Desk

Essential10 Guide to Editing Photos from your Digital Camera

Essential10 Ways to Pick Your Nose in Public

Essential10 Hard Questions for Adults and Their Aging Parents

Essential10 Ways to Survive a Zombie Attack

These are real titles of books being written for publication. As you can see, books can be practical, emotional, obscure, and/or playful. You can write whatever you want. (Except porn or hate.)

How To Get Started
Read this PDF.

Email me with questions!

Our site will launch in a few weeks. Please sign up to be invited to the beta test.

I truly believe that Essential10 is off and running with groundbreaking innovations in the world of publishing by making it possible to immediately publish concise, topical (digital-0nly) books that can serve as a focal point for creating communities of interest and intense dialog (nose-picking notwithstanding). This is the direction publishing is heading and I believe that E10 is among the first to get there.

An excerpt from my upcoming book, The Wisdom of a Broken Heart, out in January, 2010. What do you think of these ideas about having a heart? You know I love hearing from you… And why not? After all, you’re YOU.

One way to think of all these tears is as a flood of love. Liberated from its object, love now flows freely, powerfully, mercilessly, as rain, as sorrow, and as longing. When your heart is broken, it is broken open and in some sense your limitations in love have been removed. All the love you had for a particular person is still there but instead of attaching to an object, it floats freely. It is groundless and without reference point. Through one lens, this is a supremely painful situation. It is. But through another, it is something else. I won’t say that this something else is pleasurable, but it is real. It is real and raw and very deep and even if you don’t want it to be this way (you’d rather your love had an object), it is. And now that you’re here, up to your neck with love unbound, you could try to do something with it. Because although it doesn’t feel good, it is very, very precious. In fact it is wild and deep and basically unmanageable. This is your heart. Freed of the containment of relationship, it roars. You didn’t know all this energy and intensity was in there to begin with. What you thought was a cute little kitty-cat you now see has been a ferocious mountain lion all along.

Now available for pre-order! Go on! It will mean the world to me!!