Category: Make the most of life

Sunday quote: What to aim for

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Try not to become a person of success.

Rather become a person of value.

Einstein

The past is gone…

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Without a doubt, the past is gone. Unfortunately, when we carry it with us every day, our hurt feelings, judgments and anger keep recycling within us. We try to put a stop to it through pronouncements about the future, declaring, “I will never let _____ happen again!” These efforts at controlling our life are largely wishful thinking. So, unless you feel totally at peace with yourself, make it a daily or weekly routine to ask yourself these questions:

  • What unresolved pieces of my past am I carrying with me today?
  • Why am I still carrying that?
  • What do I need to do to let it go?

Make it a priority in your life to lighten the load you carry by letting go of what has happened in the past.

Judith Johnston, The problem with the Past and the Future

Our mistakes are precious

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Frequently, in the journey of the soul, the most precious moments are the mistakes. They have brought you to a place which you would otherwise have always avoided. You should bring a compassionate mindfulness to your mistakes and wounds. If you visit this configuration in your heart, it will fall into place itself. When you forgive yourself your inner wounds begin to heal. You come in, out of the exile of hurt into the joy of inner belonging.

John O Donohue, Anamchara

How love makes us vulnerable

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The big challenge through life is not letting our hearts get hardened. We are born into a world where we feel a danger of getting hurt if we allow ourselves be open at our deepest level. So there is a tendency to shy away from this, to armour our hearts, to hide behind our words or our achievements. Or we numb out the pain that comes from our wanting to be seen but are afraid to risk it.  It takes courage to stay open, to tell our story with our whole heart, to step out when there are no guarantees, to stay open to a relationship that may or may not work out, to keep the heart soft and vulnerable.

When I was a child, my grandmother died and was buried in the churchyard in Castlecomer,  Ireland.  The following year I went there on holiday.  One day we drove to visit relatives, I in the back seat with my grandfather.  As we pass the gravelled driveway leading up to the churchyard, my grandfather, thinking he was unobserved, pressed his face against the window of the car and with a small, hidden motion of his hand, waved. It was then I came to my first understanding of the majesty and vulnerability of love.

Herbert O Driscoll, A Doorway on Time

Using the weather today as a metaphor for life

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The warmth of the Spring weather this year means that plants and fruits are in bloom ahead of time and any memories of winter is far behind. We can look at the weather and nature today and be reminded of a number of lessons, which help us live our life mindfully:

Spring is a metaphor for transitions. It moves from lifelessness to life and we move from lifelessness to life in each cycle of breathing. If we know change is going to occur we are in a better place to accept it. If we expect things to stay constant we are vulnerable to frustration, disappointment, and resistance.

Spring is also a metaphor for forgiveness. Whatever happened in the last season, life begins anew with no carryover resentment from the past. Spring reminds us, as Pema Chodron says, to start where we are.

Spring shows us the cycle of living and dying on a bigger scale do. Everything comes into being and goes out of being — changing its form.  Spring invites us not to become attached to things, even the most precious things in our life. The invitation is to love things wholeheartedly with the awareness that they will not be with us forever. And, indeed, we, ourselves, will not be here forever. The invitation is to not be afraid to grieve when that grief becomes necessary. Grief is, at times, the admission price to the present moment.

The renewal of spring is the healing from grief, from the inexorable impermanence of things. Spring also demonstrates the tenacity of life and encourages us to persist in whatever we are doing.

So welcome spring and your multifaceted metaphors for mindful living!

Arnie Kozak, on Beliefnet

Moving on into insecurity

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As time passes, we are continually called to move out of our comfort zones and take on new challenges. Or  we need to shake ourselves up and leave behind what has become too familiar and comfortable.  At other times, growth may be painful, but we know deep down  that we need to make choices which will lead us in new directions. In every case it is the same, an ongoing, organic process  that has been in place since we were little: we move from an established secure base, stepping out to explore new worlds.  To do this we need to let go of what is certain. It has always been that way. We often sense it deep down. Where do I feel stuck at this moment? What do I need to move on from?

To be human is to create sufficient order so that we can move on into insecurity and seeming disorder. In this way we discover the new.

Jean Vanier