In a country ravaged by civil war, children are especially vulnerable to exploitation. Traffickers have kidnapped children off the streets of Damascus and returned them to their families several days later with organs removed.
‘There is a tendency for our minds to shift around a great deal, jumping from one thought to the next. When this happens, the best toy we can provide is something that is similar to the mind. It’s not mind itself, but it feels familiar to the mind, almost like a portrait of it. It is like giving a child a doll or a teddy bear, which is small and cuddly and somewhat like the child. It’s like an image of yourself, almost like a surrogate. In meditation, the teddy bear in your breath.’
- Chogyam Trungpa, Mindfulness in Action: Making Friends with Yourself through Meditation and Everyday Awareness.
