“If I think of you as somehow different from me, if I think that I'm Tibetan, I'm Buddhist, an Easterner, I'm a monk or even something grand like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, this kind of thinking automatically creates a gap between us. It results in a sense of unease. On the other hand, if I consider you as another human being, just like me, then that source of anxiety disappears.” Dalai Lama (Retrieved from Facebook post on July 4th 2020)
My heart, together with hearts all around the world, feels for all Black Lives. How they are treated, and how the system is set up to hinder their opportunities from birth, [NY Times article]; how police have at times been trained to treat humans differently based on skin color; and how laws, and policies have not been enough to protect their rights. It is also alarming how the Coronavirus is further demonstrating racial inequalities in Black and Latinx communities [NY Times article].
Before the year ends, how about taking a moment to reflect on all the joyful moments you had throughout the year? A few days ago, I was talking to a friend, who said that he was ready for the year to end. There were several worrisome things happening throughout the year, and he was hoping the new year would be different. When I asked about a few serious concerns from the previous year, he mentioned that all is well, and acknowledged that there were some blessings this year. I don’t think my friend is alone in focusing on the things that were hard, and when adding them up, it becomes even more painful.
My sister and I went on a guided tour in Cappadocia, Turkey. The group included tourists from Turkey, from Canada, from Chile, and us from Brazil/US. After visiting several ancient cave sites, we stopped in Avanos, at a pottery business. The set-up is to hear about the business and their pottery making tradition, watch a demonstration, and then shop. During the initial presentation, we learned that the business was 200 years old.
During the last class of the spring semester, I told the students “don’t be afraid to paint your own shoes”. Many of the students were graduating then, or will by the end of the year. It was my way of encouraging them to be authentic, to keep learning, to continue growing and pursuing their chosen careers and passions, and to be themselves. I was wearing the shoes I painted last year, and wrote about 
I’ve been reflecting on the experiences I learned and lived in 2016, and in this article I'm sharing a few lessons I’ve known for years, which I was able to experience and embody more fully last year:
Towards the end of 2015 I decided that 2016 would simply be better. There were no rules, no expectations, and no resolutions. I owe many of the decisions I made, trips I took, family I visited, courses I purchased, adventures I got myself into, people I connected with, paintings I created, and retreats I attended, to it.
If you are experiencing pain in this moment, be it towards someone else in your life, towards a loss, towards yourself, towards the past, or towards something you haven’t achieved or become, consider giving it a voice through art. As I’ve shared before, when I started writing 
I was invited by the host of #SpiritChat on Twitter to discuss the energy of the heart on June 12th. You can read the cover post