Being fully with

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If you resist what happens,

you are at the mercy of what happens,

and the world will determine your happiness and unhappiness

Eckhart Tolle

photo horax zeigt hier

It is more about letting go

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It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add,

but when there is nothing more to remove.

(Il semble que la perfection soit atteinte non quand il n’y a plus rien à ajouter,

mais quand il n’y a plus rien à retrancher)

Antoine de Saint Exupéry, Terre des Hommes

photo hiro2006

Taking risks

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Leap and the net will appear.

Zen saying

photo :David long

At ease within

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To be a part, that is fulfillment for us:

to be integrated with our solitude

into a state that can be shared.

Rainer Maria Rilke

photo attribution: © Nevit Dilmen

What’s important

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We hurry through the so-called boring things

in order to attend to that which we deem more important, interesting.

Perhaps the final freedom will be a recognition that everything in every moment is “essential

and that nothing at all is “important.”

Helen Luke, Jungian Therapist

photo kyknoord

A different way of seeing

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Ours seems to be a world that values “strength.” We want  “strong” minds, “tough” wills, “hard as nail” determination, “rugged” personalities, “sturdy” character, and so on.  I wonder if we have confused hardness with the strength it takes to truly give and receive love. Let us praise softness. I’m speaking here of hearts, of soft hearts, of gentle spirits. I’m speaking of the gentleness to give and receive love.

Every heart has a wall around it, a wall that protects, yet also keeps out. Every heart is a walled garden, the original meaning of Paradise –  the inner garden that’s protected by the wall. Yet I wonder how often the wall becomes a fortress, keeping out the very ones who are meant to reach us, nurture us, love us? Let us praise softness. Let us seek a heart that is not hard, but soft. Let us seek a heart that is not hardened like dry land, but a soft soil tilled over again and again.

In many languages, the words for “love” have a connection to words for “seed.” In Arabic and Persian, a word for love (hubb) comes from the seed that is planted in the ground. Sometimes a seed of love is planted in the heart’s ground through a glance, a touch, a word. Will the seed take root? Will it be nurtured? Will it be fed?

Are we strong enough not to keep out, but to welcome in?

Omid Safi, In Praise of Softness

photo greenlamplady