| Using a set of cards printed with each of the slogans, I shuffle the stack each morning and draw the slogan for the day. Then I read from this book about what Rinpoche has to say, sometimes jotting down notes on the back of the card. This is followed by my best try to live by the meaning of the slogan throughout my day. Sometimes I forget the slogan all day long, only to be reminded of its message when I come back to my room at night. Usually, however, if something challenging arises, the slogan of the day or perhaps a different one altogether will come to mind and provide me with "on the spot" instruction. This always introduces me to a bigger perspective. I begin to have increasing confidence that I can utilize the slogans to be less reactive and to see things more clearly throughout my whole life. Slogan practice indeed continues to help me transform all circumstances into the path of enlightenment. Even the most difficult of situations have become more and more workable. The more I get hooked by what is going on, the more these challenges become a remarkable teacher, one that can open and soften me and make me wiser. EXCERPTED FROM Pema Chödrön's foreword to Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness, by Chögyam Trungpa, pages ix–x |
