For the benefit of all beings ...

I recently attended a weeks silent retreat where we meditated on the aspiration to devoid the mind of the body existing as a way of recognising our attachment to objects, people and general worldly items - the root cause of our suffering. When we recognise these attachments and work to release the mind of this suffering, we begin to generate a happy  mind and connect to our spiritual selves but the most important reason for doing this is for the benefit of all beings. Those of our immediate family, friends’ and colleagues, etc.
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I apply this principle as we should in the work that we do - will it benefit others? Sometimes our work does not directly benefit others but has a rippling effect. If we look closely, we can see that way we interact with each other and all living beings, from picking up rubbish on our beaches and parks to protect birds and wildlife from life threatening plastic consumption to the respectful way we interact with each other on public transport or giving way when driving. When we begin to focus on others our problems slowly disappear. When we replace me or I with WE, you know the way it used to be where we shared everything our joy, sadness and prosperity with our respective local communities …

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