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Follow Your Sunshine
Brighten the Lives of All
To follow your sunshine simply take a moment to arrive fully in this space, to settle into the warmth of presence. Just as the sun shines above us, always present even behind the clouds, so too does our inner light shine within us. The Buddha taught that awareness and compassion illuminate our path, much like the sunshine that nurtures all life. Let us reflect on how we can follow our sunshine and brighten the lives of all.
"Follow your sunshine" is a simple yet profound reminder that we carry within us a radiant heart of loving awareness. The sun does not discriminate where it shines, nor does it withhold its warmth. In the same way, we can connect with and celebrate the light within us, allowing it to guide us toward joy, wisdom, and kindness. Let the warmth of your inner sunshine empower you to let go of your worries, your "to do" lists, and nourish your best self -- your true self.
Ways to Follow Your Sunshine
Focus on what’s important in life
Family, friends, and the present moment are more valuable than any material possessions. Following our sunshine means recognizing who we are sharing this luminous moment with and cherishing those connections. When we direct our light toward what truly matters, we cultivate gratitude and fulfillment.Don’t sweat the small stuff
Like passing clouds, difficulties and frustrations come and go. Yet above them, the sun remains steady. When storms arise in our lives, we can remember that we are not defined by temporary setbacks. If we have our health, our loved ones, and the gift of this moment, we already have so much to be grateful for. By following our sunshine, we light the way toward a bright and beautiful inner life.Stop and feel the warmth
Life’s simplest moments can be the most profound. A sip of warm tea, the sound of the ocean, the touch of the breeze—these are invitations to awaken fully to the present. By stepping away from distractions and immersing ourselves in the beauty of now, we cultivate joy and appreciation for life itself. Savor the light of this moment.Don’t be in such a hurry
The sun moves with grace across the sky, never rushing, never delaying. Likewise, we can slow down and trust the natural unfolding of life. When we let go of urgency, we create room for mindfulness and deep connection. The present moment is enough; there is no need to chase after another.Always take time to relax
Caring for others is a noble path, but we must also care for ourselves. True presence arises from a rested and peaceful heart. When we create space for relaxation, we nurture not only our well-being but also the well-being of those around us. A relaxed mind is a luminous mind, capable of radiating peace to the world.Be adaptable, be resilient
To follow our sunshine means to go with the flow of life rather than resist it. When we meet challenges with relaxed openness instead of struggle, we cultivate wisdom and ease. Life is ever-changing, but our inner light remains steady when we trust in our true heart’s intention.Radiate your inner warmth
Each of us has a boundless capacity for kindness. Just as the sun shines on all equally, we too can let our warmth extend outward—offering love, patience, and understanding to all we encounter. When we embody our inner light, we become a source of comfort and inspiration to others – brightening the lives of all.Brighten the lives of all
If we can help one person's day be better, if we can help one person feel less pain today, then we try our best to shine out and brighten their lives. If we can make one person smile more, then we try our best to shine out and brighten their lives. If we can help one person know what to do, help one person deal with their suffering, help one person grow closer to themselves; their true self, then we try our best to shine out and brighten their lives. We can be the warm shining light in the vast sky.
Teachings & Practices to Follow Your Sunshine and Brighten the Lives of All
For those looking to set off on the journey to follow your sunshine and brighten the lives of all, please explore the following list of teachings and practice in order, as they each build off of the previous teachings and practices.
Reflecting on Our Spiritual Aspiration invites us to pause and look deeply at why you walk a spiritual path as a living intention that shapes our everyday life. This practice encourages a gentle, honest inquiry into the heart of our motivation: What do we genuinely long for? What quality of heart or clarity of mind are we nurturing? By resting with these questions, the teaching helps us bring fresh purpose and grounded meaning to our meditation, relationships, and daily choices.
Lazy Day offers a refreshing and compassionate invitation to slow down without guilt — to honor the body’s need for rest, presence, and simply being rather than always doing. In a culture that prizes productivity and busy‑ness, this practice reframes rest as a valid and necessary part of our spiritual life, not a luxury or escape. Through gentle guidance and mindful attention to the body, breath, and sensations of ease, Lazy Day encourages you to settle into a pace that feels nourishing, allowing stress and tension to dissolve naturally.
The Nine Practices of the Paramita of Generosity offers a rich, practical framework for cultivating compassion and self‑less giving in everyday life. Grounded in the Buddhist principle of dāna—the perfection (paramita) of generosity that supports awakening and interconnectedness—this practice breaks generosity down into accessible actions of body, speech, and mind. By exploring generosity as material giving, giving time, self-care, presence, kind speech, self‑compassion, and open‑hearted perception, the teaching helps us embody generosity as a lived expression of care and connection, both outwardly and inwardly.
In a world that rarely stops moving, The Gifts of Stillness, Silence, and Spaciousness offers a gentle invitation to pause, reconnect with your body, and reclaim the peace that lives within you. This practice reminds us that true nourishment doesn’t always come from doing more — it often arises from simply being with ourselves in moments of stillness, listening in silence, and opening into spacious awareness. By offering these three gifts to our bodies and minds, we learn to honor our natural rhythms, release tension, and return to a more harmonious, grounded way of living.
Stillness calls us to rest without agenda, silence invites us to let go of mental noise, and spaciousness allows our awareness to widen and soften — creating a fertile inner environment for healing, clarity, and presence.
Under the luminous glow of the full moon, this practice invites us into a collective space of openness, compassion, and heartfelt reflection. The ceremony acknowledges the challenges of living in a world that often seems inhospitable to empathy and mutual care, reminding us that the full moon’s light can become a symbol and support for our own inner illumination. By breathing in peace and exhaling love, the practice becomes both a personal and shared invitation to nurture compassion, radiate kindness, and deepen our connection to the living world and one another.
The Practice of Ma Tri Mantra offers a heart-centered meditation for opening into compassion and interconnectedness through the power of loving-kindness and sacred sound. Drawing on a lineage of mantra practice, the meditation invites you to recall a simple, profound experience of unconditional love — for example, the pure openness of caring for a baby or beloved animal — and bring that warmth into the center of your own heart. That loving sensation waters the lotus of your heart so it can gently unfold, revealing a mantra at its core: OM MA TRI MU YE SA LE DU.
As you vocalize or internally resonate with the mantra, it becomes a radiating field of light that extends outward, touching all beings across time and space. This light dissolves barriers between self and other, opening up a shared field of love, care, and presence. The practice emphasizes that this open-hearted awareness is not just personal but universal — as the rays extend, they nurture and soften the hearts of others, helping them to bloom in compassion and wisdom as well.
The Du Tri Su Mantra Meditation is a powerful heart-and-mind practice rooted in the Bon tradition, offering a path to deep purification, liberation, and compassion through sacred sound and visualization. Centered on the mantra A Kar A Me Du Tri Su Nak Po Shi Shi Mal Mal So Ha, this meditation leads you into a spacious field of light and interconnectedness, drawing the blessings of Buddhas, lineage holders, and wisdom protectors into your awareness. As light radiates outward and dissolves into your own consciousness, obstacles and karmic obscurations are gently transformed, cultivating clarity, peace, and the spontaneous manifestation of compassionate wisdom.
Through posture, visualization, and the steady vibration of the mantra, this practice invites you to experience your own mind and heart as inseparable from the pure realms of awakening — where all beings share in the radiant essence of the enlightened state. It offers not just a technique for purification but a lived encounter with the vastness of awareness and the compassionate impulse to benefit all beings.
The SA LÉ Ö Mantra Meditation is a heart-opening practice that connects you with the natural state of mind through sacred sound and visualization. At its core is the A OM HUNG – A A KAR SA LÉ Ö A YANG OM DU mantra, one of the traditional “heart essence” mantras used in Bon and Dzogchen to reveal clarity, non-conceptual awareness, and the primordial qualities of mind. In this meditation you visualize yourself as Kuntuzangpo—the natural state of mind—seated on the sun-moon lotus of method and wisdom, and invite radiant light from the mantra’s syllables to dissolve into your being, fostering both supreme wisdom and heartfelt compassion.
As the practice unfolds, the light emanating from the mantra is envisioned as transforming the outer world into a pure realm and the inner world into primordial awareness. Reciting the SA LÉ Ö mantra is not just a technique for stilling thoughts—it’s an invitation to rest in your own luminous, spacious nature and to let compassion and clarity permeate your experience. The practice blends sound, visualization, and devotion to help cultivate deep connection, inner clarity, and the embodied presence that underlies everyday life.
The Tonglen Practice offers a transformative meditation rooted in the Buddhist heart-practice of “sending and taking,” where compassion is cultivated through the very rhythm of the breath. Instead of shrinking from suffering, you are invited to visualize the pain or difficulty of yourself and others as a dark, smoky substance that you willingly breathe in, dissolving your own self-clinging and opening the heart. As that pain dissolves, a clear, radiant light of love, patience, or confidence naturally arises and is breathed out to relieve suffering, extending first to loved ones and ultimately to all beings.
This practice gently reverses our habitual tendency to seek only comfort for ourselves, encouraging a direct embrace of life’s challenges with courage and kindness. Through visualization, heartfelt intention, and breath, Tonglen supports a deep shift toward interconnectedness, compassion, and the realization that caring for others’ sorrow enriches our own capacity for presence, peace, and loving engagement with the world.
The Vajrasattva Practice is a purification meditation rooted in the ancient Dzogchen and Vajrayana traditions that invites practitioners to clear away inner obstacles, habitual patterns, and the mental heavy-weights that block clarity and compassion. Centered on Vajrasattva—recognized as the embodiment of primordial purity and the essence of all buddhas—this practice begins with mindful reflection on one’s actions and then uses visualization and mantra to wash away obscurations.
Through mantra recitation and these visualized channels of light, the practice facilitates a sense of inner renewal and energetic flow. As old constrictions dissolve and radiant clarity permeates awareness, practitioners are led into a more open, compassionate, and freshly awakened relationship with themselves and the world around them.
Niguma’s A Meditation is a purifying practice drawn from the lineage of the Indian female mahasiddha Niguma, and invites practitioners to reconnect with the original purity of mind through sound, visualization, and devotion. At its heart is the sacred syllable “A,” representing release and the source from which all things arise.
The practice teaches that our true nature is inherently pure, even when the mind becomes entangled in thoughts and habits. Chanting “A” with focused breath and visualization helps to activate this purity, fills the body with light, and creates space to release what no longer serves us. Whether you bring specific concerns into the practice or simply rest in the sound and visualization itself, Niguma’s A Meditation offers a direct way to purify, reset, and rediscover the luminous essence of your own awareness.
Brighten the Lives of All offers a heartfelt invitation to live with open-handed generosity and radiant compassion in every moment. This practice encourages you to embody warmth, presence, and sincere care in your actions, words, and intentions — transforming everyday life into a field of gentle, uplifting energy. Through mindful awareness and simple practices of giving, the teaching shows how each act of kindness becomes a way of brightening not only someone else’s day but also your own inner world.
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