Yesterday I was doing the Mutual Awakening practice with another participant on an Evolutionary Collective Zoom call.  Our hearts were opening.  The connection was real.

And then something new …

My eyes were narrowing rather than widening.  My forehead was wrinkling.  My jaw was set.

When it was my turn to speak, it felt like I was speeding up.  And the volume was climbing.  I was spitting out nouns and verbs.  And then … Am I yelling?!

That’s not me.  Except in the moment it was.  Bruce as fierce?  How can that be?  Surely I’m the nice little Buddhist guy I’ve known for years.  Well … maybe not!

In my mind, I saw my hand pounding the table.  I flew back to the 1960’s, when Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the USSR, was angry with the words of a Philippines delegate at a United Nations meeting.  He banged his desk repeatedly with his fist, and later shouted from the podium.

I’m not angry.  I’m determined.  For however many years I have left, I vow to live big.  To have countless conversations that actually mean something to the heart.  To sing my guts out – songs that tell the stories of our lives.  To love deeply, asking nothing in return.  To walk tall.

I owe it to me

I owe it to the world