I do not understand the mystery of grace –
only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.
Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies
Tag: Acceptance
Storms of life
And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.
Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
photo huhu uet
Trust
When we cannot see the whole picture, or do not understand what is unfolding, acceptance and trust are the best ways to proceed. Keeping the heart open and not closing down allows for growth and insight. We like to think that success in life depends on it unfolding in a clear way, when in reality, the capacity to live with what we don’t know is of greater importance. Can we live with a question without immediately trying to find the answer?
Seeing into darkness is clarity.
Knowing how to yield is strength.
Use your own light
and return to the source of light.
This is called practicing eternity.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching 52
photo : ceridwen
As they are
The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island
photo paul stocker
Trying to simply observe
The mind is like a mirror that reflects everything. Like a mirror, the mind is not damaged by anything it is reflecting. A mirror can reflect the ugliest, nastiest thing in the whole world and still remains untarnished, even though the reflection is terrible. The mind is like that mirror: the reflections can be very impure or ugly or vicious, or they can be very beautiful. If we try to punish the mirror, if we destroy or crack the mirror, we go crazy – then we are really stuck. But, if we are willing to, we can recognize that the reflection in the mirror simply is as it is. This recognition is a skilful way of dealing with thoughts and feelings that may be very unpleasant for us.
Ajahn Sumedho
Learning
Suffering is our best teacher because it hangs onto us and keeps us in its grip until we have learned that particular lesson. Only then does suffering let go. If we haven’t learned our lesson, we can be quite sure that the same lesson is going to come again, because life is nothing but an adult education class. If we don’t pass in any of the subjects, we just have to sit the examination again. Whatever lesson we have missed, we will get it again. That is why we find ourselves reacting to similar situations in similar ways many times.
Ayya Khema, Being Nothing, Going Nowhere
photo nigel callaghan
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