Tag: Acceptance

Celebrating just as it is

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File:Lough Dan snow (389434714).jpg

We are having a strange mix of weathers this year in Ireland. Daffodils already in bloom, buds on the trees, followed by snow and sleet yesterday, and having to avoid large puddles when getting out of the car.  Good practice in celebrating little moments of beauty amid everyday changes

In the scenery of spring,
we can’t say one thing is better, the other worse;

The flowering branches are
of themselves, some are short, some others long.

Ryōkan, 1758 – 1831

photo light snow on Lough Dan in Wicklow by bea&txm

 

Wishing

Karl Duffy2 Comments

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We spend great energy in mental processes wishing things were different than they are. Wishing the traffic jam didn’t exist. Wishing the boss were a little nicer, wishing our children would take our advice, wishing, wishing, wishing. Acceptance is a key to a happier life. If we can just try to accept what is, and that wanting otherwise is often wasted energy, we will be happier. We would be better able to experience the moment more fully with this state of mind.

William Berry

photo AnRo0002

Choice

Karl Duffy3 Comments

File:Hommikune udu Kakerdaja rabas.jpg

Find a place where you can feel completely at ease

and say to yourself,

Only I can destroy my peace,

and I choose not to do so

Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace

photo abrget47j

Present in the midst of change

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Water-creek-leaves-fall - West Virginia - ForestWander.jpg

How Han-shan Te-Ching (1546 – 1623) came to understand to stay fully present in the moment, not in a perpetual movement of becoming:

When Hanshan got up from his seat and walked around, he did not see things in motion. When he opened the window blind, suddenly a wind blew the trees in the yard, and the leaves flew all over the sky. However, he did not see any signs of motion. He understood what the text spoke of as, “Streams and rivers run into the ocean and yet there is no flowing.”


Disapproving

Karl Duffy1 Comment

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Everyone’s mind likes saying “but.”

Thinking you are doing it wrong, that the conditions of your life stop you from making friends with yourself – these thoughts might get in the way of noticing what it is like to be you. You might disapprove of who you are, but disapproving is just another way of not being here.

In this case, making friends with yourself could mean lowering your standards….

John Tarrant, What’s it Like to be You?

photo Ian Kirk

Welcome

Karl Duffy3 Comments

File:Welcome kitty.JPG

Wherever you are, just try being the host.
You will always be at home.

Linji Yixuan, Chan Buddhist,  died 866