We Were Made for These Times

All of us go through times of transition, challenges, and difficulties. We may have faced or will face times of loss, confusion, or heartbreak, when we realize we cannot control the way our life is unfolding, whether in our personal lives or in the world around us. With mindfulness, we can learn to move through these intense, challenging times in ways that don t add to the suffering and difficulty that are already there. We can even learn to open our hearts to the richness and wisdom these times of immense disruption can bring us. 

A key step that can help us begin to settle ourselves when we are profoundly unsettled is to come home, to ourselves, in this moment, whatever is happening. This is one way of speaking about mindfulness, or being present: coming home to ourselves. When we bring our mind back to our body we come home. We could consider this state as our true home. This home inside of us is a home no one can take away from us, and it cannot be damaged or destroyed. No matter what happens around us, if we can find this home inside of us, we are always safe. 

When we touch this experience of coming home, it is like we have finally arrived home after a long journey. We experience a sense of peace and even freedom, no matter how confining the outer circumstances. Coming home to ourselves feels like belonging; it is a state that holds us and enables us to hold others. 

This is so important because we can live our whole lives estranged from this home within ourselves. 

My teacher Thay sums up his whole lifetime of teachings with one sentence: I have arrived, I am home. For him, the principal aim of mindfulness prac-tice is to experience that we have already arrived, here and now. There is nowhere we need to run to or be, other than right here in the present moment. And we experience ourselves at home, no longer looking for some refuge outside of us, in some other place or time, when we touch the truth that all that we

Kaira Jewel Lingo is a much-loved Dharma teacher who has been practicing mindfulness since 1997. She lived as an ordained nun for 15 years, during which time she trained closely with her teacher, Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh. Speaking five languages, she shares Buddhist meditation, secular mindfulness , and compassion practice internationally, providing spiritual mentoring to individuals and communities working at the intersection of racial, climate, and social justice.  Her teaching focuses on activists, educators, artists, youth and families, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and includes the interweaving of art, play, nature, ecology, and embodied mindfulness practice. Kaira Jewel teaches in the Plum Village Zen tradition and in the Vipassana tradition. She lives in New York.

Times of darkness hold the power and potential for deep transformation. Kaira Jewel Lingo is a wise and inspiring guide in navigating the challenges of our times with courage, equanimity, and compassion. She shares timeless teachings and practices that reveal our belonging and free our hearts. Tara Brach, author of Trusting the Gold

A treasure trove of loving and practical meditation advice about how we can navigate through difficult times and challenging transitions with our heart and mind intact. This book is uniquely tailored to our times, right up to this present moment. A gem of a work! Jan Willis, author of Dreaming Me

A most beautiful weaving of the many Wisdom threads in Buddhist practice to create a sacred mantle of Freedom for us all. Larry Yang, author of Awakening Together

Kaira Jewel Lingo is one of the most authentic Dharma teachers of our generation. Her decades of committed and genuine practice have yielded a book that speaks to what so many of us are longing for a path of guidance through some of the most difficult experiences of our lives. Lama Rod Owens, author of Love and Rage
 
I love this book! Simple yet profound, heartfelt and insightful, far-reaching and practical. Kaira Jewel Lingo draws on her years as a nun with Thich Nhat Hanh to offer the ideas, tools, and experiential practices we need to weather topsy-turvy times. Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Neurodharma
 
From a jewel of a teacher, a simple and clear way to access your own heart and wisdom. Anyone seeking answers will find relief in the pages of this book. Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, author of The Deepest Peace
 
A brilliant map for the real and deep journey of these times. This is medicine we need right now. Larry Ward, PhD, author of America s Racial Karma
 
We Were Made for These Times reads like a poem. Kaira Jewel Lingo offers inspiring and accessible guidance for experiencing the