It is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
Mary Oliver
photo sharon mollerus
Month: January 2016
More conscious living
Dear Mother Earth, as a human family, we have allowed greed and consumerism to prevail. We have been running after status, wealth, power and sensual comforts, forgetting that these things can never bring us true happiness and freedom. We have been so busy trying to cover up the feeling of emptiness inside, that we have not taken the time or space to stop and ask ourselves what we are doing, or where we are going. In the process, we have caused great harm to you, dear Mother Earth, destroying your natural richness, beauty and balance.
Aware of this, we are determined to simplify our life, to stop running, and to remember that in the present moment we already have enough conditions to be happy. With the energy of mindfulness and compassion we feel truly fulfilled and content. In the coming year, we are determined to consume less and to live in such a way that is sustainable for ourselves and for you, Mother Earth.
New Year 2016 Prayer, Plum Village Community, France
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Life satisfaction
We have enormous expectations that our careers will provide satisfaction in our life, and however well or unwell our jobs work for us, in the second half of life we often find ourselves working for them, with decreasing satisfaction even as we accomplish our goals, collect our paychecks…If the soul could be bought so easily, then our culture would easily work. Only the unconscious think it does. Look around you. Look within you. Be honest. How well does material affluence work? And what is the price?
James Hollis, Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life.
photo of London underground train by Chris Downer
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True to oneself
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular
but because it never forgot what it could do
Naomi Shihab Nye, Famous
photo tony hisgett
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Illusions
Arriving someplace more desirable at some future time is an illusion.
This is it.
Jon Kabat Zinn
photo thhe at english wikipedia
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Grounded
When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick:
every time a stick is thrown, you run after it.
Instead, be like a lion who, rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower.
One only throws a stick at a lion once
Milarepa, Tibetan Buddhism, 1052 – 1135
photo calips
Mindfulbalance 