As life-long learners, we will always be in need of teachers. Even teachers with limitations provide opportunities for growth, so perhaps there are no bad ones as long as we remain awake and aware.

Happiness is conditional (happy/unhappy). Instead, I like to think in terms of bliss - there is no opposite to avoid. In the absence of bliss, these days the focus of my practice is acting "as if."

It is amazing how we condition our children to have desires right from the get-go. We ask our babies "Which do you want? The orange tiger or the blue elephant? The blue one? Well done!" We encourage and cajole them in the name of development and, before we realize it, we've conditioned them through keen observation to have desires, and then to become attached.

Through my own practice, I am seeing just how heavily conditioned my own mind is to wanting, to desiring, to attachments. I'm realizing that it is truly all about conditioning these days. If I want a fit body, I must condition it so. To free my mind of attachments, I must condition myself through my meditation practice. There is no easy route, it is a moment by moment, day by day, journey. Desire for the freedom, the bliss, that accompanies emptiness of non-attachment is what drives me. That, and my deep desire to teach my children by example.