Wanting more

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So, how can we achieve inner contentment? There are two methods. One method is to obtain everything that we want and desire – all the money, houses, and cars; the perfect mate; and the perfect body. The Dalai Lama has already pointed out the disadvantage of this approach; if our wants and desires remain unchecked, sooner or later we will run up against something that we want but can’t have. The second, and more reliable, method is not to have what we want but rather to want and appreciate what we have.

        The Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living

photo of Black Friday 2013 by powhusku

Thanks in the middle of the world

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Mostly I just stand in the dark field,

in the middle of the world, breathing

in and out. Life so far doesn’t have any other name

but breath and light, wind and rain.

If there’s a temple, I haven’t found it yet.

Mary Oliver, What is there Beyond Knowing

photo Andy Beecroft

In touch with a source within

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One of the aims of meditation practice is to develop a mind that sees, and does not get hooked into events too easily. The “Ten Thousand things” in this quote is a shorthand way of talking about all the experiences –  good and bad – which arise and pass away.  It stands for all of reality, which contains the right mix of experiences for our growth, and with its ebbs and flows is continually rearranging itself.

When the ten thousand things are viewed in their oneness

we return to the origin

and remain where we have always been.

Sosan, Third Zen Patriarch, died 606

Inside not beyond

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The most heartbreaking thing is not heartbreak; it’s avoiding heartbreak. Inside the transience of life is the thusness of everything, of the tree with forty crows on it in the winter, the sound of death-metal drums from the kids in the barn, and the feeling of sadness when you lose someone. A lot of suffering is resistance to the life of feeling. If you surrender, you are surrendering to what is really going on. This is just to notice that nothing beyond your life is more important than your life.

John Tarrant, Surprises on the Way

Other places

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I will always have fears,

but I need not be my fears—

for I have other places in  my inner landscape

from which I can speak and act

Parker Palmer

photo of morning sun at Portmarnock, Co. Dublin

New and unique

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No Moment is the same as any other. Each is unique and contains unique possibilities.
Beginners mind reminds us this simple truth.

The next time you are seeing someone who is familiar to you, ask yourself if you are seeing this person with fresh eyes, as she or he really is,
or if you are seeing only the reflection of your own thoughts about this person

Jon Kabat Zinn,  Full Catastrophe LIving

photo EEIM