IN-MINDFUL LIVING

Expecting a lot from people, you do a lot of smiling; Needing many things for yourself, you have many needs to meet; Making plans to do first this, then that, your mind’s full of hopes and fears— From now on, come what may, don’t be like that.

~ Kyabje Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche

(Posted by IAAB, Facebook, 26 January 2026)

Notes

The passage lands with the kind of gentle precision that Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche offers. It’s a teaching that doesn’t scold, doesn’t shame, but simply turns the mirror a few degrees so you can see the subtle tension you’ve been carrying all along.

It speaks to three deeply human habits:

• Expectation

When we expect a lot from others, we often end up performing—smiling, pleasing, managing impressions. It’s exhausting, and it quietly ties our wellbeing to how others behave.

• Neediness toward ourselves

When we’re constantly trying to meet our own endless needs, we create an inner pressure cooker. The self becomes a project to fix rather than a presence to inhabit.

• Planning and hoping and fearing

The mind loves to run ahead, organising the future like a chessboard. But the more we plan, the more we fear the plan collapsing.

And then he offers that disarming final line: “From now on, come what may, don’t be like that.” Not as a command, but as an invitation to loosen the grip. To stop contorting yourself. To let life breathe again.

It’s a reminder that freedom isn’t found in perfecting the self or controlling the world—it’s found in relaxing the compulsions that keep us spinning.