Daily Compass

Very young children have a gift for immersing themselves in whatever gives them pleasure, even if that means wearing a treat as well as eating it.

What pleasure will you immerse yourself in today?

“Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything— anger, anxiety, or possessions—we cannot be free.”
―Thich Nhat Hanh

How have you found freedom in letting go?

Albatrosses ride the wind for vast distances, staying aloft for most of the year. They manage this amazing feat not by the strength of their giant wings, but rather by their ability to find and remain in air currents that will carry them where they wish to go. They relax into the place where they need to be, and allow themselves to be carried.

When have you experienced that sense of being able to relax into the current of your life?

In the Passover Seder, participants tell the story of moving from slavery to freedom as if the centuries-old story happened to them personally: “This is what God did for me when God brought me out from Egypt.” Our freedom rests in the stories of those who came before us, and their lives are not lost as we continue to live out their stories.

Whose story of freedom continues in your life?

Do you ever feel as if you are curled in on yourself, protecting what is most fragile inside you by wrapping it tight? What would it feel like to release that tension, to allow your body to stretch out in trust that there is room for you—all of you—in this world?

How to you make room for what is inside you to stretch and grow?