Our suffering often comes, not from events themselves, but from the narratives we build around them, a process that almost always places our “self” at the center of the universe
I should be content
to look at a mountain
for what it is
and not as a comment
on my life.
David Ignatow, American poet and editor
Don’t Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream.
When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements. Second Agreement
When we accept an event, we stop saying, “This shouldn’t have happened” and start asking, “Given that this has happened, what now?”
Everywhere, at each moment, you have the option:
to accept this event with humility;
to treat this person as he should be treated;
to approach this thought with care, so that nothing irrational creeps in.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.54
The greatest enemy of ordinary daily goodness and joy
is not imperfection
but the demand for some supposed perfection.
Richard Rohr
A nice poem for the weather we are having these days on this island on the edge of Europe. Insight deepens when we resist the urge to prematurely close meaning, allowing complexity to speak in its own time.
How would it be to allow for knowing
and not knowing: allowing room
for the mystery of creating
to be able to wonder softly
without needing to understand everything
to trust in the process, to trust in love
to trust in the mystery and wonder
of the universe
that beats softly wildly
true, all round about us,
that is hidden in the mists in the clouds and the rain
in the wind blowing and the rain lashing down on your window,
reminding you poetically, prosaically
that this is where you are,
on the island, at the edge,
in a place of finding and refinding,
and remembering to remember
the feel of the mist, wind and rain.
John O’ Donohue
Much of what holds us back is not reality itself, but the stories we tell ourselves about what might go wrong.
Our doubts are traitors,
and make us lose the good we oft might win,
by fearing to attempt.
William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.
Mindfulbalance 