course the process also helps us. The whole path
seems to be about developing curiosity, about looking
out and taking an interest in all the details of our lives
and in our immediate environment.
When we find ourselves in a situation in which our
buttons are being pushed, we can choose to repress
or act out, or we can choose to practice. If we can
start to do the exchange, breathing in with the inten-
tion of keeping our hearts open to the embarrass-
ment or fear or anger that we feel, then to our
surprise we find that we’re also open to what the
other person is feeling. Open heart is open heart.
Once it’s open, your eyes and your mind are also
open, and you can see what’s happening in the faces
and hearts of other people. If you’re walking down
the street and way off in the distance—so far away
that you can’t possibly do anything about it—you
see a man beating his dog, and you feel helpless, you
can start to do the exchange. You start out doing it for
the dog, then you find you’re doing it for the man.
Then you’re also doing it for your own heartbreak
and for all the animals and people who are abusing
and abused, and for all the people like you who are
watching and don’t know what to do. Simply by doing
this exchange you have made the world a larger, more
loving place.
There’s a traditional teaching about regarding all
sentient beings as your mother. Everyone has been
your mother; they’ve been kind to you and you’ve had
High-Stakes Practice 193