We are more often frightened than hurt;
and we suffer more from imagination than from reality
Seneca, Roman Stoic philosopher, 4 BC – 65 AD.
photo paul sapiano
The fear that stops us
Tag: Awareness
Attached to the idea
In the midst of this vast, unfathomable, ever-changing, dying, and renewing flow of life, the human brain ceaselessly engages in trying to fix for itself a state of permanency and certainty. Having the capacity to think and form pictures of ourselves, to remember them and become deeply attached to them, we take this world of pictures and ideas for real. We thoroughly believe in the reality of the picture story of our personal life. We are totally identified with it and want it to go on forever. The idea of “forever” is itself an invention of the human brain. Forever is a dream.
Toni Packer, The Work of this Moment
photo helgi halldorsson
Sunday Quote: The process, not the result
We think that accomplishing things will complete us,
when it is experiencing life that will.
Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
Photo from the beautiful site http://www.judesphotography.wordpress.com
In front of you
Your life is your practice. Your spiritual practice does not occur someplace other than in your life right now, and your life is nowhere other than where you are. You are looking for answers, insight, and wisdom that you already possess. Live the life in front of you, be the life you are, and see what you find out for yourself.
Karen Maezen Millar, Momma Zen, Walking the Crooked path of Motherhood
photo of pedestrian bridge over the Drac near near the Lac De Monteynard-Avignonet, France, by herby
Just passing clouds
The sun shines day after day without fail, yet if clouds appear to make the sky overcast, it can’t be seen. It still comes up in the east every morning and goes down in the west. The only difference is that you can’t see it because it’s hidden behind the clouds. The sun is your Original Mind, the clouds are your illusions. You are unaware of your Original Minds because they’re covered by illusions and can’t be seen. But you never lose them, not even when you go to sleep. The unborn Original Mind that your mothers have given you is thus always there, wonderfully clear and bright and illuminating.
Bankei
Discovering for ourselves
We live in a huge net and web of being, human and non-human and we have obligations towards it but the only way to fulfill them is by doing it from the inside. Not from the head, not from what we’re told to do, but to discover for ourselves what needs doing and then start doing it.
Jane Hirshfield
Mindfulbalance 