Writing was not a childhood dream of mine. I do not recall longing to write as a student. I wasn't sure how to start.
Let yourself be gutted. Let it open you. Start here.
You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior for love.
Nobody's going to do your life for you. You have to do it yourself, whether you're rich or poor, out of money or raking it in, the beneficiary of ridiculous fortune or terrible injustice. And you have to do it no matter what is true. No matter what is hard. No matter what unjust, sad, sucky things befall you. Self-pity is a dead-end road. You make the choice to drive down it. It's up to you to decide to stay parked there or to turn around and drive out.
Don't surrender all your joy for an idea you used to have about yourself that isn't true anymore.
Whatever happens to you belongs to you. Make it yours. Feed it to yourself even if it feels impossible to swallow. Let it nurture you, because it will.
Don't worry. Don't apologize. Don't cower behind the defeated security of there is no 'room for someone like me'. There isn't room for any one of us. It's up to you to make a place for yourself in the world. So get to work.
Some things I thought were important for a young man to know.
The practice of meditation is an ancient practice. It's been practiced in many lands, for many lifetimes. You may have practiced it before.
Meditation means to be in non-doing. Meditation is not a doing but a state of being. It is a state of being in one's own self.
While envisaging the destruction of imperialism, it is necessary to identify its head, which is no other than the United States of America.