You live,
not by securing yourself against impermanence,
but by finding yourself as impermanence
Michael Stone, Awake in the World
Sunday Quote: Things change
Three dimensions
Maturity is the ability to live fully and equally in multiple contexts; most especially, the ability, despite our grief and losses, to courageously inhabit the past, the present, and the future all at once.
The wisdom that comes from maturity is recognized through a disciplined refusal to choose between or isolate three powerful dynamics that form human identity: what has happened, what is happening now and what is about to occur.
Immaturity is shown by making false choices: living only in the past, or only in the present, or only in the future, or even, living only two out of the three.
David Whyte
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New month: accessing strength
Anxiety, heartbreak, and tenderness mark the in-between state. …When we are brave enough to stay in the middle, compassion arises spontaneously. By not knowing, not hoping to know, and not acting like we know what’s happening, we begin to access our inner strength.
Pema Chodron
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All around us
One of the most important – and most neglected – elements in the beginning of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality, to see the value and the beauty in ordinary things, to come alive to the splendor that is all around us
Thomas Merton
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The wind just blows
I have simply stopped arguing with reality. How do I know the wind should blow? It’s blowing. How do I know this is the highest order? It’s happening.
Arguing with ‘what is’ is like teaching a cat to bark. It’s not very fulfilling… The way I know that reality is good is that when I argue the point I experience tension, fear and frustration. I lose – not sometimes, but 100% of the time. It just doesn’t feel natural inside: no balance, no connection. I want reality to change? Hopeless. Let me change my thinking. Some of us mentally argue with ‘what is.’ Others of us attempt to control and change ‘what is,’ and then tell ourselves and others that we actually had something to do with any apparent change that took place.
Byron Katie
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Float
In the pursuit of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.
True mastery can be gained
by letting things go their own way.
It can’t be gained by interfering
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching,
Mindfulbalance 