Tomorrow is my birthday, the start of my 52’nd trip around the sun. It also marks the 3^rd birthday of the Liberated Life Project. People keep asking me what I want for my birthday… and so here is my list.

• That we can all just stop ourselves. Take a breath. Ask: “Is this really necessary?” Whatever it is…

this thing we are about to buy

this turbulent emotion we are about to throw fire on

this drive we’re about to take in our car

these words we are about to say

that assumption we’re about to make about someone else…

There is a gorgeous beauty to just being. It almost never causes any harm. And frequently, it heals. So — just being. That would be my favorite birthday gift evah!

• That all the glitches with the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) get cleared up so that everyone can see just how beneficial it is to so many folks who have gone without insurance for so long. And that all of this insurance mayhem is really just a momentary stop on the way to what we truly need: a single-payer healthcare system. May it be so!

• That Walmart will repent and give its workers the Thanksgiving holiday off.

• That my favorite nonprofit organizations will receive all the funding and other kinds of support they need to do more of the great work they are already doing: Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Upaya Zen Center, Partners in Health.

• That those of us who practice meditation and love the dharma will come to appreciate how subversive the Buddha’s teachings actually were. He was a socialist, gosh darnit, in good company with J Christ of Nazareth. Dharma in its deepest expression should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable (to borrow a phrase from Mother Jones).

• That I can continue to deepen my trust in my own truth and creativity, and keep expressing myself from that place. And that you will do the same for yourself.

• That you will practice the digital version of ‘buying local’ and visit our Virtual Holiday Faire right here on the LLP, opening up this Friday! The faire features work from graduates of my “Fall in Love with Your Work” e-course and there will be some beautiful gifts, including sacred Tibetan artwork from Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo, handcrafted journal covers from Lauren Ayer, and an e-course from Sandra Pawula to help you live with greater awareness and less stress. It’s gonna be great!

• That someone can help me figure out how to create a digital version of my signature to put on the bottom of posts like this. I am tech savvy in many ways but strangely not so in others.

Thank you all for being in my life as I head into this new year on the planet. I look forward to celebrating many more with you and continuing to build our movement of personal and collective liberation!

love and freedom,

maia

_____________________

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—Maia