Happiness is not a reward for virtue, nor a gift of the gods.
It is the natural state of a mind that has learned to balance its longings with its limitations.
The rituals of religion once taught this; we must now learn it consciously
Alain de Botton, Religion for Atheists
Our discomfort often comes from our inner commentary — the insistence that the world should be different, or that we should feel differently.
It’s rarely the situation itself that is the problem,
but my grip on how I think it should be.
Björn Natthiko Lindebla, I May Be Wrong
When I am grateful,
I am neither rushing nor slouching through my day-
I’m dancing.
David Steindl Rast
Waiting is one of the themes of Advent.
“Wait on the Lord” is a constant refrain in the Psalms, and it is a necessary word, for God often keeps us waiting.
He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it is not his way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide us more than one step at a time.
When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait on God. When action is needed, light will come.
J.J Packer, Knowing God
We must be led to the edge of our own resources, or we will not know -or need – the Ultimate Resource. This pattern is so constant and so common that it is a virtual spiritual law. We must be ‘defeated by life’ in some way, because the ego is so resistant to this journey.
Pain teaches a most counterintuitive thing – that we must go down before we even know what up is. Suffering of some sort seems to be the only thing strong enough to destabilize our arrogance and our ignorance. I would define suffering very simply as ‘whenever you are not in control.’
All healthy religion shows you what to do with your pain. If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it. If we cannot find a way to make our wounds into sacred wounds, we invariably give up on life and humanity. Our pain will overcome us and take us down. The pattern is very clear
Richard Rohr, The Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self.
We don’t have to like what is happening, or feel at peace with it. But we do have to begin exactly where we are, because there we find the only material available for change. Growth occurs through contact with reality, not through avoidance.
What is true is already so.
Owning up to it doesn’t make it worse.
Not being open about it doesn’t make it go away.
And because it’s true, it is what is there to be interacted with. Anything untrue isn’t there to be lived. People can stand what is true, for they are already enduring it.
Eugene Gendlin, Focusing
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