Tag: Be fully present

Waiting for something to happen

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

We have a tendency sometimes to put our lives on hold or believe that conditions will somehow be different in the future and then we will start to put our plans into action. Or maybe we find ourselves looking for something to come from outside  or waiting on  someone else’s plans. In  this way,  we risk missing out on opportunities which already present themselves or on what was right in front of our noses all the time, and which we do not take for fear of making a mistake or because we are waiting for some “perfect” moment.

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.

Thoreau

Don’t solidify your emotions into who you are

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Through tuning in to the steady flow of the body’s in- and out-breathing, how we actually are gets to feel good. With a steady bodily presence to relate to, the heart sense doesn’t get wound up in its emotions, and how we are doesn’t solidify into who I really am. And this is good news. Because then there can be empathy with others rather than projections and reactions. We’re less needy and therefore less disappointed by other people being the way they are. There is presence, empathy and clear thinking, and they support each other. That’s enough.

Ajahn Sucitto

The present is where we need to focus

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

If we take eternity to mean not an infinite temporal duration,

but timelessness,

then eternal life is theirs who live in the present

Wittgenstein

Bring your heart to each moment today

Karl Duffy1 Comment

The Chinese character for “mindfulness” is nian. It is a combination of two separate characters,  each with its own meaning. The top part of the character means “now” and the bottom part of the character means “heart” or “mind”. Literally, the combined character means the act of experiencing the present moment with your heart. So mindfulness is the moment-to-moment awareness of what is occurring in and around us. By being present and mindful of the present moment, we can accept what is at that moment as it is, allowing change to happen naturally, without struggle, without the usual resistance and judgment that cause us to suffer more.

Thich Nhat Hahn and Dr Lilian Cheung, Savor

First Steps in Mindfulness Day 9: Noticing thoughts as thoughts

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

“This is boring” or “This is not working”, or “I can’t do this”.

These are judgments. Actually they are just thoughts.

It is important to recognize them as judgmental thinking and remind yourself that the practice involves suspending judgment and just watching whatever comes up, without pursuing them or acting in any way

Jon Kabat Zinn

Finding the gap

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

In our ordinary mind we perceive the stream of thoughts as continuous, but in reality this is not the case. You will discover for yourself that there is a gap between each thought. When the past thought is past, and the future thought has not yet arisen, you will find a gap in which the nature of the mind is revealed: so the work of meditation is to slow down, to make that gap become more and more apparent.

Sogyal Rinpoche,  Glimpse after Glimpse