Not there

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Too often we are not present to the beauty,  love and grace

that brims within the ordinary moments of our lives.

Beauty is there, but we aren’t

Ron Rolheiser

Do not look forward

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Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow;

The same God who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day.

Either God will shield you from suffering or God will give you strength to bear it

Be at peace then and put aside all anxious thoughts and sufferings

St Francis de Sales

Unhooking

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The first step in any letting go is ‘stepping back’– non-involvement. This initiates letting go by unhooking the mind from the topic that is stirring it up. It’s not a matter of avoiding or suppressing the topic, but of seeing it in a clear and spacious way. Non-involvement is about settling back into the present moment, relaxing into the way things are right now; it’s about letting go of the ‘shoulds’ and ‘shouldn’ts,’ the past, the future and the imaginary, and meeting things as they arise in the present.  Letting go needs to be supported by a steady and focused mindfulness and clear comprehension. These provide the means whereby we can attend to what is happening now without trying to fix it.  In this way, we check the feedback loop between behaviour and awareness, so that the mind finds a calm and steady place in the midst of changing feelings. 

Ajahn Sucitto, Meditation, A Way of Awakening

Stay in the present

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The mind that tries to shape tomorrow beyond its capacities
will find no rest.

Rumi, That lives in Us

Sunday Quote: Miracles

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A miracle is often the willingness to see the common

in an uncommon way.

Noah benShea

A psalm on acceptance

tree at nightEven in the midst of great pain, Lord,
     I praise you for that which is.
I will not refuse this grief
     or close myself to this anguish.
Let shallow men pray for ease:
     “Comfort us; shield us from sorrow.”
I pray for whatever you send me,
     and I ask to receive it as your gift.
You have put a joy in my heart
     greater than all the world’s riches.
I lie down trusting the darkness,
     for I know that even now you are here.

Psalm 4, from Stephen Mitchell, A Book of Psalms: Selected and Adapted from the Hebrew.