in focus

The quality of our life is determined by the focus of our attention. When our attention is focused on anger, resistance, hatred, and judgment, that’s our experience of life. We have been conditioned to believe that focusing on what we don’t want will get us what we do want. As with so much of what we’ve been taught to believe, that simply isn’t true. When we focus on what we want, we have what we want. If I want to feel love, I must love. If I want a compassionate world, I must make my world compassionate. If I want to feel peace, I must be peaceful.

It is possible to turn our attention away from what we do not choose and toward what we do choose. And, it is helpful to have friends along the way.

- Cheri Huber, Zen Teacher