Month: December 2015

Limits and choices

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Deepwater, Missouri City Limits.jpg

To live wisely, we must recognize that there are two fundamental truths of a human life. The first is that we have a limited and undefined amount of time — it may be 100 years, it may be 30. The second is that in that limited and undefined amount of time we have an almost unlimited number of choices of how to use our time — the things we choose to focus on and put our energy into — and these choices will ultimately define our lives.

When we are born there is no owner’s manual provided, and the clock begins ticking the moment we arrive.  We do not like the words “die” and “death.” Many human activities are designed to shield us from the truth about life; that it is limited, that at least here in this place, we do not have forever. Still, it is the fact that we die and that our time is limited that makes discovering the secrets to life important. If we lived forever, there would be little urgency to discover the true paths to happiness and purpose since given the luxury of eternity we would surely stumble on them sooner or later. This is a luxury we do not have.

John Izzo, The Five Secrets you must Discover before Your Die

photo AuntTT83

Sunday Quote: Free

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:HK TST Star Ferry Victoria Harbour Mooring Rope.JPG

If you don’t break your ropes
while you’re alive,
do you think ghosts will do it after?

Kabir

photo: maizeam

Accompanying

Karl Duffy2 Comments

File:Dog hitches a ride on bicycler in Japan.jpg

‘Compassion’, when literally translated,  means ‘ suffering with others’ and ‘with’ is the most important word, because it implies belonging. ‘Companion’ is ‘one who travels with another’.  So in this relationship there is no guide, there is no healer and no one healed; we simply accompany one another.

 As we inquire into the heart of service, we see a pattern: common to all habits that hinder us in our work is a sense of separateness; and common to all those moments and actions that truly seem to serve is the experience of unity.  As my friend Reb Anderson says, “We are simply walking through birth and death holding hands.”

Frank Ostaseski

photo takato marui

Living each moment fully

Karl Duffy2 Comments

File:Dew on a spiders web 2.jpg

A long time ago three elders were talking about impermanence. One elder said “Of all those who attend this years party, who knows who will be missing next year”. Another elder said “What you are talking about is far away. When we take off our shoes and socks tonight, we don’t know if we will put them on again tomorrow.”. The third elder said “What you are talking about is still remote. When we exhale this breath, we don’t know if we will breathe in again”

photo markus michalczyk

Our capacity

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File:IMG BarrowLBridge.jpg

If you pour a handful of salt into a cup of water, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you pour the salt into a river, people can continue to draw the water to cook, wash, and drink. The river is immense, and it has the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. When our hearts are small, our understanding and compassion are limited, and we suffer. We can’t accept or tolerate others and their shortcomings, and we demand that they change. But when our hearts expand, these same things don’t make us suffer anymore. We have a lot of understanding and compassion and can embrace others. We accept others as they are, and then they have a chance to transform.

Thich Nhat Hahn

photo Barrow river by sarah777

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Standing still

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File:Rosa Löffler-01.jpg

One of the words in Tibetan for a person can be translated as “one who is on the go” or  a “migrating being”.  There is a deep truth in this and we do not have to be at an airport to realize that we’re always going somewhere or continually in transit. There is a tendency to be  perpetually “on the go”, moving towards or moving away,  always in the search of a perfect feeling.

As long as we chase the myth, trying to get happiness by attempting to manipulate and control life – whether through trying harder to succeed, trying to please others, seeking comfort and diversions or even using spiritual practice to become calm –  we will continue to trap ourselves on the roller coaster cycle of personal happiness and unhappiness, And sadly we will never taste the true contentment that comes when we learn how to stay present with what is, exactly as it is.

Ezra Bayda, Beyond Happiness

photo Hans Stieglitz