Jim Trattner

“one of the main purposes of meditation: to slow down enough to notice there are always gaps in our dense, thought-filled experience—and to become familiar with these gaps as glimpses of the unfabricated, nonconceptual nature of mind.”
― Pema Chodron, How We Live Is How We Die

“Looking back, I sometimes ponder the age-old question of how much difference the particular characteristics of individual leaders make in the sweep of history—whether those of us who rise to power are mere conduits for the deep, relentless currents of the times or whether we’re at least partly the authors of what’s to come. I wonder whether our insecurities and our hopes, our childhood traumas or memories of unexpected kindness carry as much force as any technological shift or socioeconomic trend. I wonder whether a President Hillary Clinton or President John McCain might have elicited more trust from the two sides; whether things might have played out differently if someone other than Netanyahu had occupied the prime minister’s seat or if Abbas had been a younger man, more intent on making his mark than protecting himself from criticism.”
― Barack Obama, A Promised Land