We tend to think life should be the way we want it to be, the way we planned. But often, things don’t turn out that way.
In fact, they rarely do. And there’s wisdom in not expecting life to turn out the way we think or feel it ought to.
There’s wisdom in understanding that we are essentially clueless
Björn Natthiko Lindeblad, I May Be Wrong: And Other Wisdoms From Life as a Forest Monk
Fudōshin (不動心) is a Japanese word, translated as “the immovable mind” or “unshakable heart.” It refers to an inner stability that remains steady amid pressure, fear, praise, or provocation.
The mind allows emotions to move through without appointing them as decision-makers.
Do not let your mind be altered by circumstances
Linji (Rinzai) Yixuan d. 866
See that there is nothing to get. It is already present.
All ideas about progress serve the mind only.
What progress is required to go from here to here?
Wu Hsin, Chinese sage who lived some time between 403 and 221 BCE.
As human beings, not only do we seek resolution, we feel that we deserve resolution.
However, not only do we not deserve resolution, we suffer from resolution.
We deserve something better than resolution: we deserve our birthright, which is prajna,
an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.
Pema Chödrön, Comfortable with Uncertainty
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To get somewhere new, we must change the direction we are going right now
The first invitation is just to stop entirely the conversation that you’ve been having until now
and meet what is arriving without naming or planning.
Just to hear and feel the annunciation of a new energy, a new life.
David Whyte
If life can be sinned against at all,
it is not so much by despairing of it
as by pinning one’s hopes on another life
and sidestepping the unforgiving grandeur of this one
[S’il y a un péché contre la vie, ce n’est peut-être pas tant d’en désespérer que d’espérer une autre vie et de se dérober à l’implacable grandeur de celle-ci.]
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
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