Author: Karl Duffy

This is a Mindfulness Practice Blog written in Laois, Ireland, containing reflections on meditation practice, psychological growth, spirituality and wellness which hopefully may encourage and benefit others as they reflect on their lives and seek to develop a more balanced, mindful and conscious approach to it.

Pause and notice

Karl Duffy3 Comments

File:Here they are!! Part 1 (3161323177).jpg

In parting, I would like to give you one small piece of advice to keep in your heart. You may have heard me say this before, but it is the key point of the entire path, so it bears repeating: All that we are looking for in life — all the happiness, contentment, and peace of mind — is right here in the present moment. Our very own awareness is itself fundamentally pure and good. The only problem is that we get so caught up in the ups and downs of life that we don’t take the time to pause and notice what we already have.

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, from Farewell letter before beginning a period of extended solitary retreat in 2011

photo benson kua

Now is the only time

Karl Duffy1 Comment
IMG_2565 (1)
Now is the only time. How we relate to it creates the future. In other words, if we’re going to be more cheerful in the future, it’s because of our aspiration and exertion to be cheerful in the present. What we do accumulates; the future is the result of what we do right now.
Pema Chodron

Clear mind

Karl Duffy3 Comments

File:20140513Hockenheim.jpg

Clear mind is like the full moon in the sky. Sometimes clouds come and cover it, but the moon is always behind them. Clouds go away, then the moon shines brightly. So don’t worry about clear mind: it is always there. When thinking comes, behind it is clear mind. When thinking goes, there is only clear mind. Thinking comes and goes, comes and goes, You must not be attached to the coming or the going.

Seung Sahn, 1927 – 2004

photo AnRo0002

Our natural spaciousness

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Path across field - geograph.org.uk - 1297870.jpg

We all have a clear, wondrously bright field from the beginning. With boundless wisdom,  journey beyond this,  letting go of accomplishments. Abandon all scheming and simply take on responsibility. Having turned yourself around, and accepting where you are, set out along your path, and a spiritual energy will marvelously move you along. Contact phenomena with total sincerity, not a single atom of dust outside yourself.

Hongzhi, 1091-1157, Chinese Chan (Zen) monk

photo evelyn simak

Not holding on to outcomes

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

sunflower wilting

A flower falls, even though we love it;

a weed grows, even though we do not love it.

Dogen

Sunday Quote: Beauty

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

20151009_122925

Nothing here below is profane
for those who know how to see.

Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit priest and philosopher,  The Divine Milieu, p.69