I am struck by how sharing our weakness and difficulties is more nourishing to others
than sharing our qualities and successes
Jean Vanier, Community and Growth
Month: January 2014
Being with others
If in our daily life we can smile,
if we can be peaceful and happy,
not only we, but everyone will profit from it.
This is the most basic kind of peace work
Thich Nhat Hanh
photo theduong
The mist, the wind and the rain.
How would it be to allow for knowing
and not knowing: allowing room
for the mystery of creating
to be able to wonder softly
without needing to understand everything
to trust in the process
to trust in love
to trust in the mystery and wonder
of the universe
that beats softly wildly
true
all round about us,
that is hidden in the mists
in the clouds and the rain
in the wind blowing and the rain lashing down on your window,
reminding you poetically
prosaically
that this is where you are,
on the island, at the edge,
in a place of finding and refinding,
and remembering
to remember
the feel of the mist, wind and rain.
John O’ Donohue
photo of mist on Blessington Lake, Co Wicklow by irishflyfisher
Four seasons in a day
The weather is very changeable here in Ireland this January. Beautiful bright days are followed by stormy ones, which give way to grey and then another early Spring day appears. It is no wonder the plants are confused.
We all accept that no one controls the weather. Good sailors learn to read it carefully and respect its power. They will avoid storms if possible, but then caught in one, they know when to take down the sails, batten down the hatches, drop anchor and ride things out, controlling what is controllable and letting go of the rest. Training, practice, and a lot of firsthand experience in all sorts of weather are required to develop such skills so that they work for you when you need them. Developing skill in facing and effectively handling the various “weather conditions” in your life is what we mean by the art of conscious living.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Into stillness
Go deeper
Past thoughts into silence.
Past silence into stillness.
Past stillness into the heart.
Let love consume all that is left of you.
Kabir
Seeing what is hidden
Meditation, simply defined, is a way of being aware. It is the happy marriage of doing and being. It lifts the fog of our ordinary lives to reveal what is hidden; it loosens the knot of self-centredness and opens the heart; it moves us beyond mere concepts to allow for a direct experience of reality. Meditation embodies the way of awakening: both the path and its fruition. From one point of view it is the means to awakening; from another it is awakening itself.
Lama Surya Das, The Heart of Meditation
Mindfulbalance 