October 7, 2014 Tuesday Night, Class 2

Exercises in Living from the Heart of Love; Four Empowerments Instruction

Aaron: My blessings and love to you all. I am Aaron. Which do you see more in yourself, the light or the shadow? For some of you it's close to even. For most of you, you're more aware of the shadow. This is so because you all so deeply aspire to be loving in the world, to do no harm. You come with a challenge. You are mammals. That means you have certain mammalian reflexes to protect the self. Simply, if something comes at you, to fight back. Let's call it the fight or flight reflex. That you carry this reflex is not a problem. The reflex is a teacher. You are here to learn that you can rest in the heart of love and live from the heart of love, no matter what comes up.

Last week Barbara was at the Omega Institute with John of God. She was sitting in the front row of his, they call it “current,” the room in which there's very high energy, in which the line passes by. He was sitting about where A is sitting, on a chair raised a little bit. Barbara was sitting here with the front row beside her, and the line of people, a thousand people coming through this way, passing by him, to find out what kind of healing he suggested for them, what kind of support. Her eyes are closed, she's sitting there with her eyes closed, but she can feel the energy of the people going by. She's doing what she's been instructed to do as the medium helping to anchor the current.

There was a break, the line wasn't moving, and Medium Joao, as they call him, with the entity incorporated—her eyes are closed—came up and put a hand on her head. Her first reaction -and this is Barbara, who you know is a very open, light, loving person - her first thought was, “Oh, what did I do wrong?” Not “Oh, thank you.”-- “What did I do wrong?” He just stood there. Certainly the entity understood what she was thinking and feeling. He just stood there, gentle energy to her head. That “What did I do wrong?” released, and in its place came gratitude to this Brother of Light for the gift of his energy and love. So he just stood there for a minute with his hand on her head, offering energy and helping her to release this first impulse of “What did I do wrong?”

I'm sure you all know that feeling. Somebody looks at you with an angry expression. “What did I do wrong?” Well, you didn't do anything wrong. But what helps you to overcome that idea, to release that idea of wrongness?

There are many tools that we have. Basically it comes to practicing until you know for a certainty that you are light, so even if that thought comes for a moment it's released quickly and not held onto. Shame, self-judgment, “what did I do wrong? I shouldn't be angry. I shouldn't be afraid. I shouldn't be greedy.” Anybody here who's not familiar with those thoughts? I didn't think so. And it's okay that it comes. We are not trying to stop it from coming. It's part of the human experience. What we're trying to do is give you the tool to help you not to believe in the thought when it comes. The thoughts will come. We let them go.

Barbara lives in a very mixed neighborhood—racially mixed, financially mixed, and so forth. Friends came to her door to play with her children, knocking on the door—is this one home, is that one home? She was always very relaxed about it, and the children went out to play. One day there was a knock on the door. She went to open it, and a very tough-looking black kid, who looked to be about 3 years older than Davy, was standing at the door. He had, I guess a Mohawk, and a kind of fierce expression. And he said, “Is Davy home?” She immediately jumped to, “Is he here to beat up Davy? What did Davy do? Protect Davy!” Davy at this point was about 11 years old, but was small of stature and more like an 8 or 9 year old, very small for his age. “What did Davy do?” So, already aware of the judgment, and judging herself for the judgment, but trying to open herself, and yet also wanting to protect Davy, she said, “Why do you want Davy?” The boy had a hand behind his back and he pulled his hand out, bounced the basketball, and he said, “ just thought we'd shoot hoops.” And immediately she relaxed. Okay, if Davy has this tough-looking boy for a friend, that's okay. I trust Davy, she thought.

But she saw the protectiveness, and she judged herself for it. So Davy went out to play with his friend, and she sat down and looked at it, asking herself, what did I base this judgment of this boy on? On his skin color? On his Mohawk? On his expression? On the hand behind the back?  She knew that she really has very few prejudices, and yet this jumped into her head, and she became so self-judgmental. I simply pointed out, you're a mama bear and he's your cub. You're a mammal. It's just a protective reflex. The problem is not in the thought of wanting to defend; the problem is in judging the judgment.

But then we have to ask ourselves, when does judgment become a kind of perception or intuitiveness in a sense, that something is wrong? The difference, I think, is that judgment is always contracted. It's always rooted in fear. And you can feel the contraction, as she did. The mama bear about to protect her cub. Tension, tension.

I asked her, could you feel the possibility to see this young man, feel any negative vibrations coming up in you, look at him, look at yourself, bring Davy out. He's got his hand behind his back; does he have a knife, a club? What did he have? Probably on a Saturday afternoon he doesn't have a knife or a club. He probably wouldn't be waiting at the door to get to Davy. He probably would just be hanging out down the street, waiting for Davy to come out, if he meant him harm. Look at the roots of fear in the self.

We do have to trust our intuition when something feels off. You've all met people who are angry people, hostile people, to whom you do not want to trust yourself or your children. It doesn't have to come from a place of fear. It comes from a place of wisdom. Can you feel the difference?

It's okay to feel that intuitive, “No, something is off here,” and simultaneously to feel the contraction of fear and to begin to trust the intuition from the open heart without needing to enact the fear and move into a place of separation. It's very different to be able to say to this young man, (accusingly), “Why do you want Davy?” or (kindly)  “Oh, I'll see if he's here. Can I tell him why you're looking for him?” One is inviting. It's open, welcoming, and the other is hostile and will bring up hostility in the young man, who might then say, “Why does your mom hate me so much?” Take it out on Davy, even.

How do we approach the world from that already present open heart, even in the face of fear, judgment, contraction, and some kind of separating response? This is what Barbara, Dan, and I want to look at with you tonight, and what some of the tools are the help you come back to center.

May I ask how many of you are coming to the workshop on Lake Michigan? A few of you, yes, good. We're going to be very focused on these kinds of questions at that workshop, “Living from Your True Nature.” Instead of an hour or two, we'll have five days to explore this together with different kinds of exercises to help you really open to your true nature, and to ground yourself in it to the point that when the judgment, the fear, the contraction do come up, and they will, instead of then judging yourself, you move immediately into an openhearted response. You start to trust the possibility and the reality of that openhearted response. So we're going to do this through some discussions, play, exercises.

Tonight we've been talking about gratitude and generosity, two very beautiful qualities. We all have these qualities inherent in ourselves, yet probably many of you doubt that they are innate to you. You think they're something you have to create in the self. But no, I don't see it that way. You don't create the inner core of generosity; you train yourself in awareness of the closing of the heart, the movement to separation. It's like a cloud coming in front of the sun. Suddenly you don't have the light of the sun, but the sun hasn't gone anywhere. So you remind yourself, “I'm closing off. Where is that true generosity, that true kindness, that true joy, that true gratitude?”

Now, asking, “Where is it?” doesn't always bring it forth. So we do some exercises, as we will tonight, to help remind ourselves of how it feels. But you also need to begin to trust that this is your inherent self, this is your true nature: joy, kindness, gratitude, generosity, peacefulness, laughter, that this innate radiance is you, and to practice dropping off the idea of your wrongness. Because each time you try to fix the “wrongness,” you actually perpetuate it. You give energy to it. “Oh, I'm selfish. I shouldn't be selfish. I won't be selfish.” It's just giving energy to the idea that you're selfish instead of, “Oh, I'm not really selfish, not truly. It just came up because in this moment there was some fear that my needs won't be met.”

We were going to do some exercises after I spoke, but I think I'm going to integrate one of them into this talk time.  (pause, counting off by threes) Will you open the box of cookies? First of all, these are gluten-free cookies, you can check the box. They are also vegan, I think, no dairy. So I hope everybody can eat them. But you're not all going to have the chance. We're going to pass the cookies around, two different kinds, chocolate chip and pretty sugar cookies with sparkles on them. Only the 3's may take a cookie. You may take either kind you wish. The 1's and 2's can watch them go past, but only the 3's may take them. Please don't eat your cookie immediately but hold it in your hands. I want them passed along so that people can see what they're not getting.

(passing around cookies)

If a 3 took one kind of cookie and wants the other kind instead, you may choose that...

Now, 3's, when I finish talking, you are free to do whatever you choose. You may eat the cookie. You may give it to somebody else. You may figure out some different way of distributing. The 3's might all like to simply meet in the middle of the room and figure it out, or you can talk to the two people beside you, or however you want to work it out. I want you to pause before you start and feel the, “I didn't get a cookie.” or, “MY cookie.” How would it feel to eat it by yourself, letting others watch you?  How would it feel to give it away and not have one? How would it feel to break it into thirds and share it with a 1 and a 2, or maybe just to break it in half and share it with one other person?

I'll just stop talking here and let you figure out what you want to do with your cookie. There's no right or wrong.

(pause)

If you are given a piece of a cookie you didn't want, can you trade it? Those who don't have a cookie may just want to sit with their hand out, knowing, “I didn't get a piece.” Be deeply aware of the feeling of giving, of generosity, and of receiving with gratitude. How does gratitude feel? Does it connect you? How does generosity feel?

(long pause)

I'd especially like you to do it slowly and feel the generosity and gratitude and how it connects you and opens your heart.

(long pause)

Now onto a second experiment. Counting off by ones and twos—(counting). Pass these around again. I want only the 1's to take a cookie. Do not eat it yet, just take it.

(pause)

I'm going to ask all the 1's who have cookies to get up and go down to that end of the room with your cookie... All the 2's to get up and stand down at this end of the room, more in the center and this end. I'm going to ask all the 2's to stand with your hands open, in as beseeching an attitude as is possible. (laughter) The 1's, look at each other. It's YOUR cookie. How does it feel to say, “No, it's mine.”? Look at these people. How does it feel to say, “No, it's mine?” Are you moved to eat it? That's not wrong. Maybe you didn't have dinner and you feel, justly, “I need it.” Are you moved to walk down and give it away? If you are moved to break it in half and share it, I'd like you to give the person with whom you share it the half, and I'd like you to each feed that half to the other. You feed them your half, they give you their half.

Again, just an exercise; I want you to watch contraction in the self. Contraction, “Not fair, I didn't get one.” Or, “I want one. Will I get one?” The gratitude and joy of receiving, contraction at saying, “Mine.” The joy of giving and generosity. And if you do break it in half, as you feed each other, the joy of giving each to the other. If anybody feels moved to simply gobble the cookie, that's okay. Then reflect, how does that feel? Do I feel good after it?

If shame comes up because you want to gobble the cookie, or because you actually do, reflect on the shame. What is shame? What is it about? Go ahead, try it. See what happens. Please do not feel coerced to share it just because everybody else is. If somebody gives you a whole cookie, do you feel moved to break it in half and give them half? Yes, you can break it in quarters and sixths and give pieces to many people.

(exercise)

All right, one more time. So I'd like to hear from you. I'm going to ask you to share, what did you experience? Could you feel a movement of gratitude, of generosity? Could you also feel any movement of, “Oh, I want it.”? How did it feel to move past that “I want it” and what helped you move past it?

Q: I felt the movement of, “I don't want the cookie.” And I noticed contraction in the body, and I think some judgment around it, noticing that. And the story of feeling overwhelmed by everything that people wanted to throw on me. But what helped was to feel the connection and the energy exchange in the giving and receiving. Just the heartfelt connection, the flow. And it was not about the cookie anymore.

Q: Somewhat like Q, I had a no-cookie urge. And so I gave away my cookie. And my recipient turned around and started breaking it in half, to offer half of it back to me. And I said, “No, just pass it forward.” And I watched him do it, and I felt the link, and I felt the pleasure of that link going through him to the other person. So I enjoyed it, I felt very good...

Q: I counted nine 2's, and broke my cookie into 9 pieces and started the adventure of looking for 2's. And each person had a different point of view about receiving a gift. I also found it was not about the cookie but about discovering and accepting another person's needs. That's it.

Q: I don't like cookies, so I felt very rich because there were a lot of people who really like cookies. So I had great delight in sharing my cookie with Q, and I broke it in multiple pieces so I could keep feeding it to her, and listening to her moan with glee. It was quite fun.

Q: At first I didn't take a cookie because I didn't want one. But then when I saw we could give them away, I took one and shared it with three special people, to me. And then the second time I didn't want it either, and noticed one of the people on the other side really wanting, and no one was giving to her, so I gave her the whole cookie. But she didn't want it either! So I suggested we give it to Aaron.

Aaron: And I enjoyed it! Thank you. I rarely get to eat cookies. Barbara receives the food and I enjoy it through her, but I'm not incorporated in the body, so it's a different experience of it, the sweetness and the texture and so forth, because I always give it to Barbara. Others?

Q: I really do love cookies. I felt my heart lurch after the first go-round of cookies, I mean I was literally laughing at myself, felt my heart lurching after those cookies that we passed around. Then Q, who I know doesn't eat cookies, came over to me with this whole cookie. And it just so happens that last class we fed each other also. She's really sweet about the way that she does that. So the cookie was nice but it was really very loving and very sweet to be fed, like I felt like a little child. I also wondered, is this okay? Like, because she doesn't eat cookies, she doesn't get to be fed. I told her I wish I had something to feed her. She said that she really enjoyed just watching me enjoy being fed. I had the impulse of wishing to reciprocate, and wondering, is it really okay just to receive all this kindness? But I just decided to receive it.

Aaron: Thank you. I'd ask you all to consider the way receiving a form of giving. You know you were giving to Q by being willing to receive what she offered.

Q: She said that she received something from that.

Aaron: I wonder if any of you got the sugar cookie and wanted the chocolate chip, or vice versa, and if grasping came up. “Oh, I really wanted the chocolate chip.” “I really wanted the sugar cookie.” Did anyone experience that? We purposely brought two varieties to see if that would come up for people. Others?

Q: I experienced many dramatic ups and downs during that exercise. First, extreme fear. I have a phobia of gluten. So when I heard they were gluten-free, I felt relieved. So at first I dreaded the exercise. I also see that that's kind of a core pattern for me, reacting in fear to food and other things. But then I convinced myself to try to play along, even if it meant having to eat the cookie. But I was happy that other people also didn't want to eat the cookie.

Aaron: I'm curious why you could not trust my statement, “It is gluten-free.” Barbara has been gluten-free for over 18 months. She's very careful about not bringing gluten to others.

Q: When I heard it was gluten-free, I was relieved.

Aaron: I see, good. So you did trust it.

Q: I think it was a very helpful exercise for me.

Aaron: Good. I'm glad. Any others?

Q: I also had issues with gluten, and I heard Aaron say “gluten,” but I wasn't sure if he said gluten-free or not gluten-free. And I went through very similar, well am I going to eat it and just throw myself under the bus. And got, though, how I don't trust—if I don't see it myself, I want to look at the label, even though I know Barbara doesn't eat any gluten. I wasn't sure that both of them were gluten-free, and they didn't look like cookies I've had, and it stressed me out. I was in my head and just aware of how non-trusting I am of things.

Aaron: They come from the gluten free freezer cabinet of the store Hiller's on Washtenaw. Others?

Let's take this a step further. You begin to see some of the patterns in yourself. I want you to begin to see that right there with any thought of grasping is generosity. Right there with any thought of “I shouldn't take this” is openness to receive, the open heart. Right there with separation is connection. Right there with judgment is that which is free of judgment. And yet, these more, let us call them, contracting emotions—notice I'm not calling them negative or bad, but they're the emotions that cause you to contract—lead to separation, judgment, and so forth - these contracting emotions will arise.

How many of you have worked with my teaching on the Seven Branch Prayer and Four Empowerments? (a few) We're going to spend some time with this, then. It's in my book Awakened Heart, I believe, and also I think in Part I or II of Path of Natural Light. But you can find it on the Deep Spring archives simply looking for “Four Empowerments.” The Four Empowerments are the center of the Seven Branch Prayer.

These are a re-statement of a Buddhist teaching from Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva. The Seven Branch Prayer exists in various forms in many different spiritual traditions. So we've extracted it and made it a non-Buddhist practice, an accessible practice. There are various wording and order of the steps so don't get caught up in ‘doing it right', but do what helps.

The first step is to watch the habitual pattern that comes up. It might be a feeling of, “I'm not worthy to have it. I should give it to somebody.” which is a kind of self-judgment. Or grasping, “I want this,” and then judgment, “I shouldn't want it. I shouldn't be greedy.” It might be simply separation, “*I* will give this to somebody else,” and seeing that point of separation. Not us eating it but me being the giver or me being the receiver. Different habitual patterns that you spoke of came up for different of you.

Each of you has habitual patterns that are more repetitive. For most of you, being human, a feeling of unworthiness or shame is a frequent visitor. I think if I asked for a show of hands, asking how many of you have experienced a sense of unworthiness this week, probably all of you would raise your hands. I'm not going to ask. You know the feeling. Greed is a frequent visitor. It's part of that mammalian reflex, “Mine!” And then shame, because you are loving old souls and you don't want to be selfish. Anger is a frequent visitor, and then often judgment of the anger.

So we look at what has arisen. Step one is to open yourself, asking for support. You don't have to believe in entities. You don't have to believe there are guides or anything else out there. When you ask for help, you are in one sense asking your own highest self, your own highest awareness, to step in and help you overcome the ego's habitual patterns. But you can also ask for help from the Buddha, Jeshua, Mary, Kwan Yin, whatever guides or loving beings there may be, your own personal guides.

The asking for help is a willingness to accept the fact, “This is an issue. This does come up. I am willing to let go of it, therefore I am willing to ask for help.” If you're not willing to ask for help, there's a certain ego and pride in that. “Me, I can do this. I can conquer it.” But the ego can't overcome it. We're talking about the open heart, and it's the open heart that asks for help.

Step 2 of the Four Empowerments is simply to note, “Ah, this has arisen.” Just being aware of it, bringing presence to it and what I call compassionate regret. This is not shaming yourself and saying, “Oh, I'm bad this came up.” “Ah, here this is again. It just keeps coming up.” So compassionate regret: no matter what I do, it keeps coming up. Within that compassionate regret we see the ways that it brings harm to yourself and to others, and that's part of the regret. I wish to be of service to others, to be loving in the world, and yet this energy is so deeply habituated in me that it keeps coming up.

Step 3 is a resolve not to repeat these unskillful words or actions, or even the resolve not to be ensnared by your anger in the same way, not to be caught by misunderstanding, even if the misunderstanding was not enacted. Here there is clarity that because you experienced the self as separate, because fear arose, and other conditions were present, certain emotions followed. So there is a deep resolve to work in more depth with penetrating the delusion of separation, to really bring non-dual awareness into your daily life and begin to see everything as made up of non-self elements, so as to be less likely to move into such fear and delusion which give birth to anger. Again I emphasize this is not a statement that what has happened before is to be met with condemnation. It's simply clear-seeing that what has happened has been painful and there are more skillful ways to do it, and that within this great heart is the ability to do it, the readiness for such responsibility.

Step 4. Being willing to offer the antidote to this energy. So if it's unworthiness, maybe metta is the antidote. If it's greed, the practice of generosity is the antidote, the conscious practice of generosity and feeling how beautiful it feels to be generous.

So we move through these four steps. And it gets to the point where you can go through the four steps in less than a minute. Each time that contracting energy arises, the “Ah, here is self-judgment,” --compassionate regret, “This has arisen again. I truly aspire to release this habitual pattern. I ask for help from whatever sources of help there may be.” And then, using your wisdom to understand what would be the antidote to it, what would balance this energy, and being willing to apply it repeatedly. Just like if I were to take this cookie and just take a crumb off, and another crumb, and another crumb, how many crumbs am I going to have to peel off before finally the cookie is gone? But eventually it will be gone; just a pile of tiny crumbs on the plate.

So this is the practice of the Four Empowerments. I will ask Barbara to email to all of you the whole Seven Branch Prayer and Four Empowerments. I've stated it in different ways at different times, so what you read may not be the exact statement I've given here, but it's close enough. Make it your own.

You are not doing this to fix something that's broken in yourself. You are doing this because you aspire to open to the deepest and most radiant truth in yourself and learn how to express it in your world; to blow off the dust so that the radiance may shine through. As long as you are trying to fix, you are only holding yourself back into the contracted pattern. No fixing.

I want to talk about one more thing with you, and then pass you to Dan, who's going to take our exercise a bit further. The homework that Barbara assigned. Exercises and experiences that enhance generosity, gratitude, mudita and equanimity. I didn't talk today about mudita and equanimity.

Mudita, true joy for others. And without having expressed it, I think many of you felt that joy for others as you offered them a cookie. That's mudita, a Pali language word. And equanimity. “Gee, I got this one. I wanted that one. It's okay.” Watching that small self part of you that says, “But I want that.” Shh, it's the two year old speaking. We don't shame the two year old, we comfort the two year old. We realize the two year old really wanted the other cookie, or wanted a whole cookie. Equanimity.

So again, I would like you this coming two weeks to watch these experiences of gratitude, generosity, mudita, and equanimity, and see how they help to support the knowing of this radiant true nature, and help to release the blustering of the small ego self.

Barbara asked that everybody meditate every day, even if only for 5 minutes. If that's all you can do, then meditate for 5 minutes. If you can meditate for longer, that is fine too.

After you sit, please begin a journal, however brief. It can be one word such as turmoil, agitated, peaceful, sleepy, or you can write more. I'm not going to ask how many of you did this, this two weeks. I'm just going to impress on you. If you came to me and said, “I want to be a concert pianist, Aaron. How long should I practice?” And I said, “Oh, two minutes once during the week,” well, you're not going to get to be a concert pianist that way, are you? If you want to learn these things, you need to give yourself time to practice. I don't want to create rigidity about this. Think of this as a gift you give yourself daily, to take the time to meditate.

And the journaling helps to bring awareness to what you're experiencing. What was predominant in the sitting? What are you experiencing of these qualities as the day progresses? In other words, if there was a very sharp clear mind, does that stay with you some through the day? If you were experiencing a lot of turmoil but also some spaciousness, what happens to that then as you move into your day? Can you become aware that turmoil is simply arising out of conditions and that it will pass, and that that ease and spaciousness will remain, just as they did in the sitting?

So there you are in a traffic jam, late for an appointment, and tension arises. Right there with the tension, can you find ease and spaciousness? Without denying tension, without trying to fix tension, can you return to ease and spaciousness and know, “I am this. And in this moment, because of conditions, tension has arisen. I will attend to the tension but not try to fix the tension.”?

Barbara emailed these out today with apologies that she sent them so late. She received the transcript just as she was leaving for a week, and came back just in time for the class, came back yesterday. So if you don't have access to email, please take one...

Okay, questions...

Q: I was thinking about the four steps that you named, and I wonder if you could say a little bit more about the antidote step, because my experience is that...

Aaron: It's simply what brings balance. So, when there's anger, what helps to balance your anger? There's not a specific antidote to any quality, but simply looking at what brings balance. And we also have to consider what balance means.

For example, if one feels strong pride, “Look how good I am,” and then feels some judgment about that and says, “Oh no, I'm not good. Look at all the poor qualities in me”, a forced humility; that's not a balance to pride. We want something that falls in between the two, that space in your heart that doesn't have to cling to, “I'm important, I'm special,” or “I'm nothing.” Both are extremes. We're coming into a centered place.

If there's strong anger at what feels like some kind of abuse, to pull back and say, “Oh, whatever they do is okay. I'm not angry,” and back away and retreat, that's not balance. What balances that strong anger? Probably metta for both yourself and the other person. Coming into a centered place in the heart that recognizes what was done was inappropriate and hurtful. Yet, I do not have to either take it or fight against it, but I could move into a centered place where, let's say compassion, where loving kindness may be the antidote there. Really seeing that the other person is speaking from their own place of fear and pain. But also being willing to speak up and say, “No, you may not speak to me like that.” But those words are not coming from fear or anger. So we bring ourselves into that centered space. Is that sufficient?

Barbara will send out more about this also.

We did a class two or three years ago using the practice of Mussar, which is from the Jewish tradition. It's a very beautiful practice. The book, Climbing Jacob's Ladder, and his second book, Everyday Holiness, by Alan Moranis, are very beautiful books that introduces this practice, and I recommend them to any of you who are interested. We did this practice with the Venture Fourth group, and then we did it again as part of a year-long class. Barbara may have some notes that she can share with you. Other questions?

Q: I have an example that I think is similar to what you were talking about with Q. A part of my life was injured badly, and so as a result I found myself not wanting to <>. Now I think it's better for me not to oppose all that might be outside, but to focus on being aware before I would be judging the conclusion that everything's going to be bad and horrible. I let what I see and observe, be more aware of that, and have the frame of mind to let the events tell me what they are, rather than I pre-judge them. It's difficult.

Aaron: Thank you. That's wonderful. I'm very glad you're learning to do that.

Let me pass this to Dan at this point, because we have just another 20 minutes. I'm going to release the body to Barbara.

My blessings and love to you all, and thank you for sharing this with me today. And please do the practices: some meditation, some journaling, and simply some mindful awareness of these experiences as they arise. Paying attention. Paying kind attention is your greatest ally. Not the attention that's holding an axe and is ready to strike when something unpleasant arises, but kind attention.

Dan does an exercise with roses.

(session ends)

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