welcome to mindful monday. my eyes are glossy and my mind is murky. after countless hours of editing over the past week, i’m ready to crawl under the covers and slumber . . . for a few days. mind you, it’s only 7pm as i begin typing and most parisians probably aren’t even ready for their apéritif, yet i’m busily contemplating bedtime with the standard, “oh, i’ll get up early to finish my writing deadline.” c’est la vie.

while getting my daily dose of what’s going on in the world via cnn.com this morning, i came upon a disturbing article about smugglers in the dog meat trade. i held my heart as i read it. so agonizing. i kept hoping there would be a “here’s how you can help” link among the mention of the two organizations working on animal welfare in thailand.

once i wrapped my head around the horror i had just read, i remembered the practice of tonglen to connect with suffering and spread compassion. below is a video of pema chodron walking you through the practice.

tonglen can assist with extremes feeling of helplessness experienced around the suffering of other beings. it definitely helped this morning. in addition to tonglen, i plan to do more research on how to assist organizations working to eradicate this horrible trade.  

et toi? how can you practice tonglen and also work to effect change in areas that break your heart? there is much suffering and this one simple step is a generous act of loving kindness. embrace it. then get out there and do what you can to transform the suffering. bisous. x