By Amy Leach, in 'Things That Are'

Blue stability and orange witchery!!!

 (regarding penguins)
"... and if their parents, finally, when the chicks are strong, stop arriving with squid, so that the chicks become hungry enough to wobble off, through miles of golden blowing snow, to find the unseen sea, then they will discover, once they leap in, that they have talents besides standing-- swimming with sudden winging, wheeling grace in water."

(regarding Ginnungagap, the "gaping gap, dark and empty")
"But there are others who still experience the Ginungagap, like buttercups. Into the gaping gap buttercups send their yellow-dusted anthers, petitioning for a bee; and the gap is where the crane flower sets up its blue landing-petals and orange flicker-flame petals-- in order to doubly tempt the sunbirds--with blue stability and orange witchery."

"So why not stay stafe in the dirt, a seed holding tight, instead of a seed bursting forth and offering the plummy stationary self to slim mold and powdery scab and blossom end rot and weevils and sow bugs and gangrene and silver scurf and scrapy little sparrows waiting above ground?
Plants cannot stay safe. Desire for light spools grass out of the ground; desire for a visitor spools red ruffles out of twigs. Desire makes plants very brave, so they can find what they desire; and very tender, so they can feel what they find.
(...)
Those who are feeling their way into the Ginnungagap must be able to feel, which means able to freckle, and fringe, and soften, and tilt. And if they can tilt they can fall."

from Buddha's Brain by Rick Hanson

Virtue - doing what helps (yourself and others) - working with the tendency of the mind to transform what arises
Mindulness - paying attention - being with whatever arises
Wisdom - let go of the things that hurt you, and strengthen those that help you - taking refuge in the ground of being

Being on your own side.
Use your actions benevolently toward your future self.
"It's imporssible to change the past or rhte present: you can only accept all that as it is. But you can tend to the causes of a better future."
"To take these steps, you have to be on your own side."
"Please consider... You are a human being like any other --and just as deserving of happiness, love, and wisdom."

"To nurture self-compassion adn strengthen its neural circuits:
*Recall being with someone who really loves you
*Bring to mind someone you naturally feel compassion for, such as a child or a person you love
*Extend this same compassion to yourself - be aware of your own suffering and extend concern and good wishes toward yourself; sense compassion sifting down into raw places inside, falling like a gentle rain that touches everything."

Remember the concept of first arrow and second arrow.

"If you can simply stay present with whatever is arising in awareness-- whether it's a first dart or a second one-- without reacting further, then you will break the chain of suffering right there."

"Your brain preferentially scans for, registers, stores, recalls, and reacts to unpleasant experiences. (...) Actively look for good news, particulary the little stuff of daily life (...) Savor the experience... the longer that somethign is held in awareness adn the more emotionally stimulating it is, the more neurons that fire and thus wire together, adn the stronger the trace in memory. (...) Imagine or feel that the experience is entering deeply into your mind and body, like the sun's warmth into a T-shirt..."

Consider:
Mindfulness meditation. Even just five minutes. (or the length of a stick of incense, or ... ? )

Buddhism's 'wise speech' - "Say only what is well-intended, true, beneficial, timely, expressed without harshness or malice, and - ideally - what is wanted."