Tag: Awareness

Being with, giving attention

Karl DuffyLeave a comment
What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them. Psalm 4

Mindfulness is love that resists distraction. It is a staunch refusal to fall into absentmindedness. It is focused, sustained attention toward the beloved. In this way, mindfulness seems less tied to the cognitive functions of the mind and closer to what we call an act of will. Mindfulness is choosing to cherish and then choosing – again and again – never to back away from that initial decision. Devoted spouses, dedicated friends, caring parents are all mindful of the ones they love. Above all else, God is mindful of humanity. On the basis of this primal act of divine will, we can be assured that God’s attention never wavers.

Mark Ralls, Living by the  Word: Mindful

….in the ordinary moments of this life.

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Today’s society encourages the idea that our lives need to be full of activity and excitement for them to be significant. However, today’s celebration reminds us that it is in the ordinary that the deepest meaning can be found, in the small hidden village not the vibrant main city, in the ordinary gestures now not the special once-off occasions sometime somewhere else. Our lives too are made up of moments,  giving us opportunities for care and attention here and now, in the reality of our lives, not in some future imagined moment.

The more complicated our lives are, the more important it is to live in the present moment — otherwise we’ll miss much of our lives. Mindful parenting is about moment-to-moment, open-hearted and non-judgmental attention. It’s about seeing our children as they are, not as we want them to be. It means you become less attached to outcomes and more mindful of what’s unfolding in your life. As a parent, you can’t withdraw to a cave to meditate. It’s all about now. When you tune into the breath and sensations in the body, you are stepping outside of time. Moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness cultivated by paying attention — we are all capable of this. Mindfulness actually saves us a tremendous amount of time because we don’t go down so many dead ends with our thoughts. It doesn’t take any more time to be more mindful. It’s not a philosophy, it’s a practice. You don’t have to get less busy or fix anything. Simply reclaim your moments by showing up for them. The more “speedy” your life is, the more oxygen this practice gives you.

Jon Kabat Zinn

Happiness in our own hands….

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Why cannot we be content with the secret gift of happiness that is offered to us, without consulting the rest of the world? Why do we insist rather on a happiness that is approved by magazines and TV? Perhaps because we do not believe in a happiness that is given to us for nothing? We do not think we can be happy with a happiness that has no price tag on it.

Thomas Merton

Coming home

Karl Duffy1 Comment

The world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, by which we arrive at the ground at our feet, and learn to be at home.

Wendell Berry

Simple choices, each moment

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

We can only make one choice. Throughout our lives, we do only one thing – again and again, moment by moment, year by year. It is how we live our days, and it is how we shape our lives. The choice is this: what is the next right thing for us to do? Where, in this moment, shall we choose to place our time and attention? Do we stay or move, speak or keep silent, attend to this person, that task, move in this or that  direction?   …Our choices are small, quiet,  intimate things that flow from us as water from a mountain spring, simple,  endless, each thimble of water tumbling into the next, creating a small stream that somehow…inevitably,  finds its way down the mountain to the sea.

Wayne Muller, A life of Being, Having and Doing Enough

The shortest day: darkness and light

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Life begins in darkness and ends in darkness. In the beginning, there was only darkness. Darkness is a mystery; it evokes curiosity and fear of the unknown, and at the same time it brings us into the embrace of reality. This reality is all around us, pregnant with the existential truths of life. As the sacred story states, ‘The earth was empty and without form and darkness covered the face of the deep.’ Out of this darkness God commanded the revelation of light. This light was not the sun or the moon but light that came from within the darkness. This light is an integral and essential part of the darkness. That darkness at the heart of creation has its counterpart in the darkness living at the core of each of us.

In the dark moments and struggles of our lives, we often realize the beauty and the power that lie deep within us. This darkness sheds light on our external world and helps us not only cope with, but also live effectively and more fully in, the painful situations of our lives. This light comes from the darkness at our core. This light — the light within the dark cave of our being — draws us back to the very source of life.

Paul Coutinho, Sacred Darkness: Encountering Divine Love In Life’s Darkest Places