In this talk, Zach describes how the world is a reflection of us, just as much as we are a reflection of the world. By cultivating an awareness of our connection to all things, a natural love and compassion arises. We become more compassionate to ourselves when we discover our own common humanity, and more kind to others as we realize everyone is fighting a hard battle.
Learn more at www.zachbeach.com
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
–Kindness, Naomi Shihab Nye
