People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

-Kent Keith, The Silent Revolution

Day 310 – Like most of my fellow householders, my friends and coworkers, I have up and down times.  There are days, like yesterday, where my mind is open and ready to receive megabytes of new information or new ways of seeing my teaching, only to be stopped, and called upon by a greater need, not my own.  This is stressful–my resistance and dissonance grow–but I heed the request.  I know I cannot solve someone else’s problem, but it is my presence that makes the difference.  I cannot stress that enough to myself–my presence matters.

Rolf describes householders as “members of the class of people who perform the difficult functions that make our civilization possible…some of the people we most admire, people who have embraced their roles wholeheartedly and have turned their daily work into an expression of love.”  Further, Rolf advises that asana practice help us “withstand the rigors of service” as it “develops our ability to act with great tenderness and watchfulness.”  This is dharana:   “To care for our world, to give loving attention to the moments of our days.”

Our presence matters in positive, countless, unfathomable, and unknown ways.  It matters in the wee moments of our day, on our ride to work, in the food we pack for lunch (for ourselves and others), in our play, in our job, at our dinnertable.  Rolf suggests that the opposite of dharana is fear, and I would attest to this; yesterday’s hesitation at leaving my seminar was simply fear and avoidance (on my part).  How present are we when we know what we need to do, but don’t do it right away?

Love will break your heart.  Love anyway.