The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

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Thank you. So earlier in the morning I talked a little bit about sitting in the middle of the fire.

It could be sitting middle of the water, middle of the air,

sitting in the middle on top of this earth, sitting in the middle of our life wherever it is. And one of the advantages of learning to sit in the middle of our life is we can begin

asking ourselves, what is most important for us from being grounded, rooted in the middle?

If we're not in the middle, it means we're kind of projected forward into the future,

still kind of hanging on to the past. It could be that we're swirling around with a to-do list

that keeps us kind of spinning. It's all kinds of ways that we're swirling around with a to-do list that keeps us kind of spinning.

It's all kinds of ways that we're not rooted or grounded or at ease in the place we're at.

Or to say it may be more intimately, we're not rooted or centered or at ease in our own body.

We're not here in some kind of way, in a full way.

Well, maybe not full, but full enough,

so that we can ask ourselves, if we ask ourselves,

what's most important for us? That we might have a really good answer.

If we're spinning around with a long to-do list of things to do,

then it might be the most important thing is to somehow

set up a world so we're not afraid of it. Because fear can be

the driving force behind a lot of things to do. Or ambition, or greed.

But if we really centered on ourselves at ease here,

then what answers do we get from the question?

What is most important for us?

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