she had this time to enjoy her life, which she had not
enjoyed up to the moment that she got sick. Finally,
the day before she died, she went into a coma. Every-
body in her family, who were coming to feel more and
more fond of her after all those years of finding her to
be a pain in the neck, gathered around her bed crying
and looking gloomy, just as she used to look. Just be-
fore she died, she opened her eyes to see them all
standing there, and she said, “Gosh, you all look so
unhappy. Is something wrong?” She died laughing.
So, “Always maintain only a joyful mind” and “If
you can practice even when distracted, you are well
trained” are implying that the best gift you can give
yourself is to lighten up. One way to do that is to let
distraction bring you back to the present moment.
Another way is to be curious. In addition, when
things are really heavy and you feel stuck in either
your joy or your misery, just do something different to
change the pattern. Tonglen is a good suggestion of
what you could do.
Lighten Up 135