Rushing

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As we go through our daily activities, we frequently get lost in thoughts of past and future, not staying grounded in the awareness of our bodies. For simple, useful feedback when we’re lost in thought, we can use the very common feeling of rushing. Rushing is a feeling of toppling forward. Our minds run ahead of us, focusing on where we want to go, instead of settling into our bodies where we are.

Learn to pay attention to this feeling of rushing — which does not particularly have to do with how fast we are going. We can feel rushed while moving slowly, and we can be moving quickly and still be settled in our bodies. The feeling of rushing simply reminds us that we’re not present. If you can, notice what thought or emotion has captured the attention. Then, just for a moment, stop and settle back into the body: feel the foot on the ground, feel the next step.

Joseph Goldstein, A Heart Full of Peace

photo blkutter

Stilling the mind

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The mind quiets down because we observe it

rather than getting lost in it

Charlotte Joko Beck

photo hila axelrod

Not getting stuck in passing thoughts

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One should learn from nature by observing the fact that flowing water never stagnates

and a busy door with active hinges never rusts

Sun Ssu–mo

photo dhowes9

 

 

Sunday Quote: As it is

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Just receive life as it is.

Don’t make a problem about it.

Open yourself to the way things are.

Ajahn Sumedho

Content where we are

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We all want to be famous people,

and the moment we want to be something we are no longer free.

Jiddu Krisnamurti

photo jonathan billinger

The difference between joy and happiness

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Joy in the context of spirituality
is not the same as happiness.
Happiness is a feeling that, like all feelings, comes and goes,
while joy is a more fundamental attitude toward life.

This joy doesn’t change your circumstance; it embraces it.
Joy doesn’t make your situation other than it is;
but reveals the greater reality in which it is.
Being aware of the greater reality
always manifests as joy.

The more narrow the attention,
the more focused we are on fleeting moments
of happiness and sadness.
The wider our attention becomes
the more aware we are
of an unending flow of joy.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro

photo martin cathrae