You Don’t Have to Feel Any Particular Way

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Always remember this one great secret of spiritual practice: we don’t have to feel any particular way. We don’t have to have special experiences, nor do we have to be any particular way.

With whatever arises, whether it’s pleasing or not, try to remember that all we can do is experience and work with whatever our life is right now. No matter what life is and no matter how we feel about it, all that matters in practice is whether we can honestly acknowledge what is going on, and then stay present with the physical experience of that moment.

Ezra Bayda, Zen Heart: Simple Advice for Living with Mindfulness and Compassion

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Need less…

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

If you feel that your dreams aren’t coming true, you might think that you need to do more, or to think and strategize more.

In fact, what you might need is less – less noise coming to you from both inside and outside -so that you have the space for your heart’s truest intention to germinate and flourish

Thich Nhat Hanh, Silence

..stop trying

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Enlightenment is not something you achieve.

It is the absence of something.

All your life you have been going forward after something, pursuing some goal.

Enlightenment is dropping all that.

Hakuun Yasutani Roshi, 1885–1973, Zen master in the Sōtō tradition, 

Step back…

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

If you are distressed by anything external,

the pain is not due to the thing itself,

but to your estimate of it;

and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 8, §47, i

walk slowly..

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

If you find yourself rushing or becoming impatient, slowing the pace can help take the edge off your rushing

and remind you that you are here now,

and that when you get there, you will be there.

If you miss the here, you are likely also to miss the there.

Jon Kabat Zinn, Wherever you Go, There you Are

Sunday Quote: always comparing

Karl Duffy2 Comments

Contentment isn’t about getting what you want – it’s about being at peace with what is.

When you stop measuring life by your preferences,

the heart settles into a natural ease.

Ajahn Sucitto, Kamma and the End of Kamma