Prayers for Calm. Becca Anderson

      Pray clearly

      for what you can only faintly grasp.

      Pray silently

      from the core of your being.

      Pray for healing.

      Pray for humanity.

      Pray lovingly

      Pray deeply—

      pray so deeply that

      the prayer and the praying

      become one.

      —Charlie Elkind

      — 4 —

      Know That You Are Not Alone

      All you who sleep tonight

      Far from the ones you love,

      No hand to left or right,

      And emptiness above—

      Know that you aren’t alone.

      The whole world shares your tears,

      Some for two nights or one,

      And some for all their years.

      —Vikram Seth

      — 5 —

      You Won’t Feel This Way Forever

      That’s how you stay alive.

      When it hurts so much you can’t breathe,

      that’s how you survive.

      By remembering that,

      one day, somehow, impossibly,

      you won’t feel this way.

      It won’t hurt this much.

      —Grey’s Anatomy

      — 6 —

      Eternal Love for All in the World

      For as long as space endures

      And for as long as living beings remain

      Until then may I too abide

      To dispel the misery of the world.

      —Shantideva

      — 7 —

      Let That Word Be: Thanks

      Better

      than if there were thousands

      of meaningless words is

      one

      meaningful

      word

      that on hearing

      brings peace.

      Better

      than if there were thousands

      of meaningless verses is

      one

      meaningful

      verse

      that on hearing

      brings peace.

      And better than chanting hundreds

      of meaningless verses is

      one

      Dhamma-saying

      that on hearing

      brings peace.

      —Dhammapada, VIIIii, attributed to Buddha

      — 8 —

      All Things Must Pass

      Let nothing disturb you.

      Let nothing frighten you.

      All things are passing away;

      God never changes.

      Patience obtains all things.

      Whoever has God lacks nothing;

      God alone suffices.

      —Saint Teresa of Avila

      — 9 —

      Toward Heaven

      Refuse to fall down.

      If you cannot refuse to fall down,

      refuse to stay down.

      If you cannot refuse to stay down,

      lift your heart toward heaven

      and like a hungry beggar,

      ask that it be filled,

      and it will be filled.

      You may be pushed down.

      You may be kept from rising.

      But no one can keep you

      from lifting your heart

      toward heaven—

      only you.

      It is in the midst of misery

      that so much becomes clear.

      The one who says nothing good

      came of this,

      is not yet listening.

      —Clarissa Pinkola Estes

      — 10 —

      The Greatest Truth of Love

      don’t be afraid

      of what you do not understand

      and cannot yet grasp

      if you are lost

      in the dark night of the soul

      nothing has ever happened

      that was not meant

      even if your thoughts

      tell you this is not so

      we share the same intertwined heaven

      we are carried and held in the same light

      we are loved in the same light

      light will not elude you

      let every breath

      fill your mind with peace

      let your soul unfold courageously

      in divine wisdom

      and open itself for the beautiful things

      that want to enter your life from the future

      the greatest truth of love

      the only thing that matters

      is that you are alive.

      —Swedish Chant

      — 11 —

      A Guide for Those Who Have Lost Their Way

      May I become at all times, both now and forever

      A protector for those