Make the most of life – Page 70

Life as it is

February 4, 2015February 4, 2015 Karl Duffy1 Comment

It would be great if life proceeded from one moment of perfect happiness to the next, but for most of us, this is not the case. So, just as Dante did, we must proceed by another path, the path through our personal hell, where we encounter moments of pain and feelings of loss and confusion. Given that this is so, you can either live in denial of the truth of your experience or obsess on your pains and disappointments. Or you can consciously accept, even embrace life not working out and trust that in doing so you will discover meaning in your life.

If you choose to consciously embrace pain and loss as your teachers, life itself is not disappointing; it is a series of moments to practice being with life as it is.

Philipp Moffitt, Living with Disappointment

Darkness and light

February 2, 2015February 1, 2015 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Today is the Christian feast of Candlemas, which traditionally involved the blessing of candles for use in the home. It was a reminder that light will return, sustaining people around this midway point of winter, giving encouragement when the cold and darkness seemed to be never-ending. It helped people to realise that darkness and not-knowing are natural parts of the cycle of life and death, just as are periods of cold and lack of growth. Stepping into unknown territory is necessary from time to time.

Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we would like to dream about. The spiritual journey involves going beyond hope and fear, stepping into unknown territory, continually moving forward. The most important aspect of being on the spiritual path may be to just keep moving. Usually, when we reach our limit, we freeze in terror. Our bodies freeze and so do our minds. Rather than indulge or reject our experience, we can somehow let the energy of the emotion, the quality of what we’re feeling pierce us to the heart. This is a noble way to live. It’s the path of compassion – the path of cultivating human bravery and kindheartedness.

Pema Chodron.

Nothing to lean on

January 29, 2015April 1, 2022 Karl Duffy6 Comments

The moment that Teijitsu, 18th century abbess of Hakujuan, near Eiheiji, Japan, learned to let go.

She saw that all phenomena arose, abided, and fell away. She saw that even knowing this arose, abided, and fell away. Then she knew there was nothing more than this, no ground, nothing to lean on, stronger than the cane she held. Nothing to lean upon at all, and no one leaning… And she opened the clenched fist in her mind and let go, and fell, into the midst of everything.

Sallie Tisdale, The Women of the Way: Discovering 2,500 years of Buddhist Wisdom

This is what the things can teach us:
to fall patiently, to trust our heaviness
Even a bird has to do that before he can fly.

Rilke, Book of Hours, II, 16

Training the mind

January 26, 2015January 18, 2015 Karl Duffy2 Comments

Nothing in the whole universe is comparable to the mind or can take its place. Everything is mind-made. Yet we all take our minds for granted, which is another absurdity. No one takes the body for granted. When the body gets sick, we quickly run to the doctor. When the body gets hungry, we quickly feed it. When the body gets tired, we quickly rest it. But what about the mind? Only the meditator looks after the mind. Looking after the mind is essential if life is to grow in depth and vision. Otherwise life stays two-dimensional. Most lives are lived in the realities of yesterday and tomorrow, good and bad, “I like it” and “I don’t like it,” “I’ll have it” and “I won’t have it,” “this is mine and this is yours.” Only when the mind is trained can we see other dimensions.

Ayya Khema, Being Nothing, Going Nowhere

photo honza groh

Hold everything lightly

January 24, 2015January 18, 2015 Karl Duffy1 Comment

From the beginning

the flying birds have left

no footprints on the blue sky

Musō Soseki, Zen Buddhist Monk, calligraphy artist, poem writer, and garden designer, 1275 – 1351

photo wing chi poon

The basic choice….

January 23, 2015January 23, 2015 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

When I was about six years old I received an essential …. teaching from an old woman sitting in the sun. I was walking by her house one day feeling lonely, unloved, and mad, kicking anything I could find. Laughing, she said to me, “Little girl, don’t you go letting life harden your heart.” Right there, I received this pith instruction: We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us. We always have the choice.

Pema Chodron, The Places that Scare you

photo vivian eng

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