October 2020 – Page 5 – Mindfulbalance

Making the weather

October 7, 2020October 8, 2020 Karl Duffy5 Comments

It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

Dr. Haim G. Ginott, 1922 – 1973, School teacher, Child psychologist and psychotherapist, Teacher and Child: A Book for Parents and Teachers.

Sometimes falsely attributed to Goethe. Thanks to Kim for pointing this out.

Take your life

October 6, 2020October 5, 2020 Karl Duffy1 Comment

The best way to say, “Thank you God,” is by letting go of the past and living in the present moment, right here and now. Whatever life takes away from you, let it go. When you surrender and let go of the past, you allow yourself to be fully alive in the moment. You were born with the right to be happy. You were born with the right to love, to enjoy and to share your love. You are alive, so take your life and enjoy it.

Don Miguel Ruiz

The perfect teacher

October 5, 2020October 5, 2020 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

In practising meditation, we’re not trying to live up to some kind of ideal — quite the opposite. We’re just being with our experience, whatever it is. If our experience is that sometimes we have some kind of perspective, and sometimes we have none, then that’s our experience. If sometimes we can approach what scares us, and sometimes we absolutely can’t, then that’s our experience. “This very moment is the perfect teacher, and it’s always with us” is really a most profound instruction.

Pema Chodron

Sunday quote: How we work with things

October 4, 2020September 20, 2020 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

It’s not the load that breaks you down.

It’s the way you carry it

C.S. Lewis

A deeper seat

October 3, 2020September 20, 2020 Karl Duffy1 Comment

At some point in your growth, it starts to become quieter inside. This happens quite naturally as you take a deeper seat within yourself. You then come to realize that although you have always been in there, you have been completely overwhelmed by the constant barrage of thoughts, emotions, and sensory inputs that draw on your consciousness. As you see this, it begins to dawn on you that you might actually be able to go beyond all these disturbances. The more you sit in the seat of witness consciousness, the more you realize that since you are completely independent of what you are watching, there must be a way to break free of the magical hold that the psyche has on your awareness.

Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul

Simplify

October 2, 2020September 21, 2020 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Here I am alone with silence.

I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played.

This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts me.

Arvo Pärt, Estonian composer

About this Blog

Mindfulbalance supports the slow, patient practice of mindfulness meditation, as a way to find balance and meaning in life, reduce stress and develop health and wellbeing. It contains reflections to encourage the practice of meditation as well as occasional posts from psychology, spirituality and the wisdom traditions. The daily posts are prompted by Rilke's advice: "Write about what your everyday life offers you, your sorrows and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind, and your belief in some kind of beauty". Written in County Laois, Ireland