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.

Each moment is complete

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washing day 

Treat every moment as your last.

It is not preparation for something else

Shunryu Suzuki

Sunday Quote: Eyes to see

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Life’s face is never the same
though we may look at it for all eternity.

Kolbein Falkeid, Norwegian poet, 1933 –

photo paula rey

Windy weather

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File:Djerba-close hauled-sky walker.jpg

It has been very windy the past few days,  here in Ireland and across the water in England causing coastal surges and flooding.  The wind blowing through is another commonly used metaphor for thoughts –  how to let them pass without believing their content – and for the stillness of a mind that can hold all things in awareness:

One windy day two monks were arguing about a flapping banner. The first said, “I say the banner is moving, not the wind.” The second said, “I say the wind is moving, not the banner.” A third monk passed by and said, “The wind is not moving. The banner is not moving. Your minds are moving.”

Raymond Kurzweil, The Singularity is Near

photo henning leweke

Passing by

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File:Man looking out the window of a Portuguese train type 3400.jpg

The towns and the countryside that the traveler sees through a train window does not slow down the train, nor does the train affect them. Neither disturbs the other. This is how to should see the thoughts that pass through your mind when you meditate.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

photo miguel pires da rosa

Your natural mind

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lake-2

If you don’t try to stop whatever is going on in your mind, but merely observe it, eventually you’ll begin to feel a tremendous sense of relaxation, a vast sense of openness within your mind – which is in fact your natural mind, the naturally unperturbed background against which various thoughts come and go.

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.

Gently being with

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gentle

Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what’s going on.

Pema Chodron, Comfortable with Uncertainty