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Some years ago, I heard the phrase, the big squeeze.

And it really struck me as a powerful way to describe our human predicament, how our lives

are shaped by two different evolutionary poles.

Every day we get pulled and caught in the small reactive self.

It's grasping and the anxious and the acting out of old habits and limiting

beliefs. And when we're in the grip of this evolutionary poll, we fixate on substitutes, you know,

trying to prove ourselves and impress others and be right. You know, we get hooked on being online, on snacking, on overworking.

These are substitutes for feeling connected and alive, and they block us from true happiness.

So that's the primitive psyche, the survival brain, evolutionary force.

And then each day in some way, and sometimes we're not that conscious of it

but in some way our awake heart comes through we might pause for presence there might be a moment

of beauty of humor of caring connection of gratitude of remembering what matters i often think of Zen poet Rio Khan who writes, if you want to find the meaning, stop chasing after so many things.

So this is the second part of talk on desire and addiction, and we'll explore how we get hooked on chasing after substitutes,

that pull of that first evolutionary force, and how we love ourselves into healing, how we evolve

to live more fully from presence and awake heart. So friends, I hope that this serves you well. Thank you.

We are discussing tonight the second part of what's now a three-part series.

I'm working wisely with desire and addiction.

And I start with Buddhism because the Buddhists talk about the middle path,

as many of you know, in approaching desire.

And it's to meet desire without any grasping, but living it fully, living fully, what our hearts are

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