giving again

I wanted to get the CD so I decided to do some acts of kindness until I had a story to share. First I gave money to three homeless people with eye contact and a heartfelt blessing. That seemed pretty easy. Someone saw the response of one of the recipients and told me that I made her happy. Maybe I helped to inspire that passerby to be generous, too. Then I gave leftover food I was planning for the next day’s lunch to another homeless person. He seemed very hungry.The Rev. Heng Sure told a group that there are three types of giving: material (money, food, etc); courage and dharma.My courage story is that I met with a student from Hong Kong who is studying at an American University. He is interested in the field of sustainability (in which I work). I gave him advice for how to grow his contacts and his vision of what he wants to do and told him to keep me updated every few months. That felt like a true gift of attention, my time and my knowledge and some inspiration for him to fulfill his life’s dreams.My dharma story is that I am working to transform my anger against those who are blocking policy on energy and climate change that could accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and could help humanity to learn to live with a lighter footprint. I absorbed the advice to separate the policy from the person and to be able to love all beings as divinely connected. I also get that coming from anger (and hatred and rage) leads to half-baked messages. My dharma act will be to tell the truth as I see it, not holding back for fear that people can’t handle the truth about what we are doing to our planetary life support systems and the consequences that humanity (and our brethren living beings) will have to endure over millenia to come. I will speak this truth from a place of love, as well as urgency and passion. And with the intention of building bridges between where people are now and where we can go together, building a future based on love, as well as science and commerce.Thank you for your beautiful music and your message of wisdom and walking each step with mindfulness and intention.