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“Don’t just do something, sit there,” people accustomed to meditation sometimes quip when confronted with a difficult situation. It means that instead of kicking into action at the first thought of trouble, we consider first taking a moment to sit and meditate. But isn’t that giving the situation time to deteriorate? For most problems, probably not.

By taking just 10 minutes in meditation you can significantly improve your chance of solving the problem by

• not being completely taken over by your mind-made interpretation and allowing for alternative perspectives,
• grounding yourself and allowing the anxiety of the moment to pass through,
• connecting to that which is working well at the time
• generating a feeling of joy,
• bringing to mind your deeply-held values (thus calibrating yourself to act in accordance with them), and
• preparing the stage for joyful, courageous and effective action to address the situation.

Remember that we are much better problem solvers when we are happy, optimistic and at ease. So next time you feel the urge to rush and do, consider heading for the cushion instead.

We say we want to live in a world of peace, kindness, love and sustainability. Gandhi reminds us to “be the change we want to see,” and his words intuitively make sense. But how can we be peace, kindness, love and sustainability? In my experience it helps to periodically withdraw from the noise of our technological civilization and to observe in quiet meditation my inner tension, anger, fear and lack of peace.

When I have gotten in touch with my inner state of being, I have reason to celebrate, even if I have observed a lot of pain. In meditation, I can hold and transform anger, sadness and fear without distracting myself with unneccessary and often unsustainable consumption, work or scheming. I can just be with the pain and know that it is not mine alone but that it has been transmitted to me for many generations. Gradually I become less afraid to touch my pain and thereby transform it, heal it. It can feel like a true liberation, a liberation to finally give myself the love and care I deserve and to love others as if for the first time.

You say you long to step into a world of peace, kindness, love and sustainability? The way out is in.

“To be loved means to be recognized as existing.” Thich Nhat Hanh

I spotted these two flyers posted to a fence around a large construction site in Berlin, Kreuzberg.

I was touched deeply by the messages “I hear you” and “I’ll help you.” Doesn’t it just feel wonderful when someone says these words to us in a moment of suffering?

May we remember that we can give the gift of listening to anyone almost any time and for free! And by listening with an open, nonjudgmental heart we are already helping. To improve our listening we can make it more intentional. We can ground ourselves by feeling the earth beneath our feet or the chair we are sitting on. We can breathe slowly in and out and follow our breathing as we deeply sense the unwavering support of our Mother Earth. And from this centeredness we can begin listening. Whatever is being said to us, we can now receive it with appreciation even if it includes words of criticism or accusation. While listening to someone share feelings of hurt or anger, we can practice staying grounded, present and connected to our compassionate heart. In this way we are bringing healing to the person or the situation.

What is more, we can give this gift to ourselves. We can learn to be present for ourselves and remind us that we are okay the way we are. The process is similar. We ground and center ourselves and turn our attention to our body sensations, which may include stress, anxiety and tension. The moment we tune into how our body is feeling we have already begun listening. We are saying “I hear you” and “I will help you” to our body. And we may soon feel a sense of relief. Similarly, we can tune into our emotions and embrace them, too, with our mindful and compassionate heart. We can attentively hold space for our hurt, worry, depression or anger and light up this space with the warm light of compassion. We can even make a promise to take good care of all our emotions.

The longer I live, the more I come to the realization that 99 percent of my suffering result not from things that happen to me but from a recurring and habitual state of disconnectedness from myself and others. To me, this realization holds a huge promise for a happier, healthier and less consumption-driven life. And it reminds me to pause, again and again, to practice “I hear you. I will help you.”

Thanks to the person who posted this teaching on a wall in Kreuzberg.

“‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand’ because, if not at hand, it is nowhere.” (Wendell Berry*)

My farmer heart felt fuzzy warm last weekend when some 170 tractors of all shapes and sizes rolled through the streets of Berlin. They had come from across the region as part of a large-scale demonstration for a new, healthier agriculture. Framed by 35,000 people in attendance, these tractors — and the smiling, radiant faces behind their wheels — symbolized something that is rare and precious in any large city: a reminder that the gift of a satisfying, peaceful and rewarding life is a gift lovingly granted by Mother Earth.

From my perch atop the slow-moving trailer belonging to a national agricultural nonprofit, I had the opportunity to see hundreds of marchers and I was touched by the positive energy, the smiles, the strength and the courage written on their faces. It had been a while since I had been exposed to this energy and finding it right here in the city made this experience even more special.

A couple days later I am still feeling this energy inside of me, stirring me, talking to me and asserting itself once again as a guide. It is a familiar guide whose voice I have been hearing throughout my life and who really began talking to me twenty years ago when, together with my wife at the time, I built my first vegetable farm in West-Central Missouri, USA. It has spoken to me about what it means to be at home, not in a country or a culture but in my body which is inseparable from the whole of nature and the universe. To me, this experience of home is possible only in the present moment and though it is possible to access it right here in the city, it is much easier to do so when I’m in nature.

Over the years as a farmer, I have come to see nature as a special doorway to equanimity and peace. The stories she tells — of birth and death and rebirth, of the interconnected web of all things, of turning wastes into an abundant harvest — these are stories of a beautiful home, a safe and welcoming home where I can truly arrive and become everything I am capable of being. This home is always available inside of me. I am called to it each time the wind is brushing against my face, each time I feel the warm earth under my bare feet or rest my body against a tree after preparing the fields for planting. I am called to it when I feel exhausted from the to-do list and my mind turns farming (or whatever else I am doing) into a punishment, when I drift into wanting another life of different comforts and diversions which never seem to satisfy for very long. In these moments of joy and pain I am called home to discover the incomparable beauty of the present, to connect with all life around me and to touch peace.

I am very grateful to the organic and sustainable farmers who came to Berlin last weekend with smiles and confidence nourished by Mother Earth. They helped me remember my path toward inner peace and happiness. I would like to honor them and all the world’s farmers with a poem. I recorded this poem some years ago for a radio program in Kansas City, USA. I cannot recall the author’s name, so if you know it, please share it with me so that I can give her credit. And thanks for listening.

(*) from “Wendell Berry on Climate Change: To Save the Future, Live in the Present” Yes! Magazine, March 23, 2015.

I passed him one morning outside a friend’s apartment. Though I was walking quickly to get to my next appointment, his beautiful appearance didn’t escape me and I felt nourished by it for the rest of the day. My life has been a plateful lately — my ongoing adjustment to living and working in Germany and now also to Berlin’s housing crunch have been doing a bit of a number on me. Practicing mindfulness has been an important part of dealing with my anxious and worried thoughts. Indeed, I sense that any storms blowing through my life are directing me to a deeper practice, a further wakefulness and an inner calm accessible in the present moment.

I am reminded of a dharma talk I once heard about a “Diamond in my Pocket,” the diamond being our ability to instantly drop the story we tell ourselves which causes us to suffer. It takes just one or two breaths, or as the case may be, the sight of a Buddha sitting by the road, to shift attention from our worried thoughts to the sensations of our body, which almost always tell a different story, don’t they? Usually a much less dramatic and less urgent one. Through this shift of attention, we bring mind and body back together, connect with the present moment, and step out of the world constructed by our habitual thoughts, emotions and identifications, into a world of discernment, acceptance, wisdom and greater peace. We all carry this diamond in our pockets. May we remember to pull it out often.