One of my favorite newsletters is Carolyn Gimian’s “Ocean of Dharma.” You can sign up for it here and join nearly 10,000 others who receive jewels of wisdom from Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche two or three times a week. Here’s today’s, one I particularly liked:

Keep the Moth Out of the Flame

When you are trying to help someone, you have to have humor, self-existing humor, and you have to hold the moth in your hand, but not let it go into the flame. That’s what helping others means. Ladies and gentlemen, we have so much responsibility. A long time ago, people helped one another in this way. Now people just talk, talk talk. They read books, they listen to music, but they never actually help anyone. They never use their bare hands to save a person from going crazy. We have that responsibility. Somebody has to do it. It turns out to be us. We’ve got to do it, and we can do it with a smile, not with a long face.

From “Helping Others,” in Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala,  page 180. Order your copy here.

Many thanks to Carolyn!