“The way of cowardice is to embed ourselves in a cocoon, in which we perpetuate our habitual patterns. When we are constantly recreating our basic patterns of habits and thought, we never have to leap into fresh air or onto fresh ground.” ~ Chogyam Trungpa

Maitri, or making friends with ourself—all of ourself—our arrogance, the things we don’t like about ourself—is the hard work that forms the basis of a life of empathy, service, and happiness.

Empathy is the conduit between our present confusion and real happiness. This genuine, unselfish happiness is found in service to others (including ourselves). So if you want to be happy, engage in the path of service to others. This is a lifelong path, not a temporary spiritual “diet.”

From a photo I took at the office of Barry Boyce at Mindful, in Halifax.

Two poems are vital to that path, or journey: 

Here’s one: Habitual Patterns, by Trungpa Rinpoche. “You are more concerned about the flies sitting on your cup than about the great sun coming up.”

And here’s the other: Unconditional Friendliness, the Metta Sutra, by the Buddha, translated by the Nalanda Translation Committee. It’s beautiful.

Jolly good luck! 

To do our Maitri course, click here.