I see real love as the most fundamental of our innate capacities, never destroyed no matter what we might have gone through or might yet go through. It may be buried, obscured from view, hard to find, and hard to trust… but it is there. Faintly pulsing, like a heartbeat, beneath the words we use to greet one another, as we ponder how to critique others’ work without hurting them, as we gather the courage to stand up for ourselves or realize we have to let go of a relationship – real love seeks to find authentic life, to uncurl and blossom. — Sharon Salzberg (from Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection #BK576)
Throughout Real Love, Sharon Salzberg includes meditation techniques such as RAIN and Lovingkindness that you can practice first on your cushion, and then in everyday life. By putting the book into action in our lives, “we build the foundations of our own happiness.”
At DharmaCrafts, we were inspired to create a Real Love Meditation Cushion Kit complete with a DharmaCrafts handcrafted zafu and zabuton set, a copy of Sharon’s book Real Love, and a stretchy cedar mala, which may be worn as a daily reminder of your meditation practice.
Join Sharon for a six-week online exploration of Real Love hosted by our friends at Tricycle! Learn more about the online course here.
Sharon Salzberg is one of the world’s foremost meditation teachers and cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society. She has written ten books including Real Happiness, a New York Times Bestseller.