Tag: Be fully present

Worry

Karl Duffy1 Comment

I worried a lot.

Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?
Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.
Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?


Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.

Mary Oliver, I Worried

What troubles us

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If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry.

Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.

Paolo Coelho, The Alchemist

Wait

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“Wait on the Lord” is a constant refrain in the Psalms, and it is a necessary word, for God often keeps us waiting. He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it is not his way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide us more than one step at a time. When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait ….. When action is needed, light will come.

J.I. Parker, 1926 – 2020 Canadian evangelical theologian, cleric and writer 

Never imitate

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Insist on yourself; never imitate.

Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation;

but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous, half possession.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The only gate

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Nirvana is this moment seen directly. There is no where else than here. The only gate is now. The only doorway is your own body and mind. There’s nowhere to go. There’s nothing else to be. There’s no destination. It’s not something to aim for in the afterlife. It’s simply the quality of this moment.

Jane Hirshfield, American poet, in the PBS documentary, The Buddha

Adding

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So, what if, instead of thinking about solving your whole life, you just think about adding additional good things.

One at a time.

Just let your pile of good things grow.

Rainbow Rowell, American author, Attachments