Reposting a blog from Momtaz at Taraloka for BAM: 

A couple of weeks ago, we had a great BAM preparation community night where Maitrisiddhi talked about the trends of Engagement and Withdrawal as personified by Green Tara.  Then we did some writing reflection and came up with 5 personal pledges each to do during June.  These were to include both withdrawal and engagement pledges.

Here are a few examples of our pledges:

Kathy, Maitridevi and I are going strictly vegan for the month.   I have also decided to go sugar free and eat more fruits in June.  Trish has re-joined Change.org.  Maitrisiddhi will be buying only Fair Trade chocolates for 6 months and is also leading a Street meditation on ‘ Love not Fear’ with the Shrewsbury Sangha.  Kathy, Catherine and Hridayagita will save water in our kitchen bathroom.  Whilst Vimalasri and Suchitta will be picking up litter where ever they see it.  Kathy and Suchitta are planning to have more regular contact with Ratnasuri either phoning and visiting.  Sarah is researching information from Amnesty about us all writing letters to political prisoners.  Elaine and I are both bringing someone to mind to feel appreciation for in the morning meditations. Maitridevi and Maitrisiddhi are helping me learn to ride a bike!