Tag: Be fully present

Excitement

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We cannot live without excitement.  However, when excitement becomes the sole purpose in life that’s out of balance, that does not work.  It seems, we strive to be on a constant high all the time.  Having fun almost becomes an addiction.  But the craving for the extraordinary dulls the palate, and we lose our sense for the ordinary.

When our practice is calm and ordinary,  nothing is lacking and our everyday life itself is enlightenment.

Don’t engage disturbances, and emotional reachings gradually fade away.

Don’t engage distractions and spiritual practice naturally grows.

Wilbur Mushin May Sensei 

Sunday Quote: Dance first

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He could dance first and think afterwards ……. It’s the natural order

Samuel Beckett, from Waiting for Godot

 

Gifts each day

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A habit is a sure cell of predictability; it can close you off from the unknown, the new, and the unexpected. You were sent to the earth to become a receiver of the unknown. From ancient times, these gifts were prepared for you; now they come towards you across eternal distances. Their destination is the altar of your heart.

John O Donohue, Eternal Echoes

Where you are

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We can only be where we are: Right here, right now.

Zen practice is to accept that place with calm.

We cannot always be master of the situation, but we can always be master of ourselves.

Philip Toshio Sudo, Zen 24/7: All Zen All the TIme

 

Sunday Quote: Contentment comes from within

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 Every moment is an opportunity to come home…

Make an island of yourself,
make yourself your refuge;
there is no other refuge.

Digha Nikaya, 16

Why we are always restless

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The creator of the universe loves circles:

time and space are circles, the day is a circle, the year is a circle, the earth is a circle.

But when creating and fashioning the human heart, the creator only created a half-circle, so that there is something ontologically unfinished in human nature.

John O’Donohue

 

In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable,

we finally learn that here in this life all symphonies must remain unfinished.

Karl Rahner, sj., Catholic theologian