Compassionately understand that everyone is on his or her own path and, furthermore, honor where everyone is on that journey at every moment. No fear, no hatred, bigotry or animosity, just deep understanding, empathy, love, and respect for all beings.
Catalog
Timber Hawkeye
Timber Hawkeye (born Tomer Gal, July 19, 1977), is an Israeli-born citizen and resident of the United States, best known as the author of Buddhist Boot Camp (HarperCollins Publishers, 2013), and of his memoir: Faithfully Religionless (Hawkeye Publishers, 2016). Drawing from his studies and experience through a Kagyu lineage, as well as his stay in Shunryu Suzuki's Sōtō Zen Monastery (Tassajara Zen Mountain Center) in California and Aitken Roshi's lay-practitioners' temple in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii), his writing, interviews and public talks offer a secular and non-sectarian approach to being at peace with the world, both within and around us. Hawkeye does not consider himself a teacher or master of anything or anyone, but rather a translator of ancient wisdom into a language that people today can go beyond understanding to actually implementing into their daily lives. His intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich and inspire readers to contemplate how they contribute to their own suffering, so that they can create healthier behavior patterns of inner peace despite external conflict, and looking at life through the lens of gratitude and abundance, not lack. "By no longer identifying as victims of our past," Timber says, "we are empowered to change our future." 2Early life Hawkeye was born Tomer Gal in Bat Yam, and raised in Katzrin, a small town in the Golan Heights of Israel, until he moved with his parents and older sister to San Francisco at the age of 13. He was introduced to books by Eknath Easwaran at 16, and that's what sparked his interest in mindfulness and meditation. Hawkeye describes his teenage years and early twenties as an ongoing attempt to embody what the media portrayed as the definition of being "American" and "Successful." He started out as a paperboy at 14 delivering the San Francisco Examiner in the Sunset District, got his start in Corporate America during his senior year of high school when he worked for State Compensation Insurance Fund, and many office jobs after that (from the California State University, Stanislaus Foundation Department his first year of college, to paralegal jobs at law firms around the Bay Area and later in Seattle, Washington, focusing mainly on commercial real estate. 2Transformation In his books, interviews and public talks, Hawkeye mentions a couple of key moments that changed the trajectory of his life: When he moved from San Francisco, CA to Seattle, WA, he accepted a job at a law firm that offered him 50% of the annual salary he received in California, but he loved Seattle so much and found himself twice as happy in the Pacific Northwest as he had been in Northern California. At that moment he realized that how happy he is has nothing to do with how much money he makes (despite the media constantly telling us otherwise). After five years of working at the same law firm in Seattle, another paralegal at the firm was celebrating her 30-year anniversary, and Hawkeye says the fact that she was celebrating 30 years in a cubicle terrified him, as it had already been a total of ten years for him in California and Washingto
We cannot control what anyone else is up to; we can only be mindful of what we can each do individually, and do it well.
All the happiness in the world stems from wanting others to be happy, and all the suffering in the world stems from wanting the self to be happy.
If we’re so attached to tangible things, imagine how difficult letting go of opinions must be (let alone opening our minds to new ideas, perspectives, possibilities and futures).
Energy flows where attention goes.
So go ahead, surround yourself with like-minded people for comfort and support, but don't forget to honor those who push your buttons just as much if not more, for they're the ones who provide the opportunity to grow and mature beyond having buttons that can be pushed.
You don’t have to agree with, only learn to peacefully live with, other people’s freedom of choice. This includes (but is not limited to) political views, religious beliefs, dietary restrictions, matters of the heart, career paths, and mental afflictions. Our opinions and beliefs tend to change…
Buddhism teaches us to be tolerant and accepting, but tolerance does NOT mean accepting what is harmful.
Instead of spending so much time thinking about what’s missing from your life, remind yourself (if only for twenty minutes a day), of everything you already have: from a comfortable bed to sleep on, to a roof over your head, to clean air, drinking water, food, clothes, friends, functioning lungs,…
Our beliefs inevitably solidify to be the only truth and reality that we know, which puts a greater distance between us and anyone whose beliefs are different.
I am another you, and you are another me. And the journey continues. Namaste.
Never underestimate the healing power of love. It is just as important for our survival as the food we eat, yet it’s free and available in unlimited supply. Love is the strongest medicine.
The sentiment behind the golden rule is great (treating others the way we wish to be treated ourselves). But nowadays we don’t even treat ourselves very well! We knowingly consume things that are bad for us, continue working at jobs we hate, and don’t spend half as much time relaxing as we do…
Isn’t it refreshing to know that just because we’ve always been a certain way, it doesn’t mean we have to stay that way forever?
Sometimes life isn’t about anything new that we have to learn, but about what we have to UNlearn instead.
By being so focused on how things ‘could be,’ we are under-appreciating how great things already are.
You never know when a random act of kindness could literally save a person’s life.
Treat every living being, including yourself, with kindness, and the world will immediately be a better place.
Wouldn’t it be great to stop, if only for a minute on a regular basis, and reflect on how wonderful everything is?
You can’t calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass.