Tag: heart

The art of the soul

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All through your life, the most precious experiences seem to vanish. You look behind and see no sign even of a yesterday that was so intense. Yet in truth, nothing ever disappears, nothing is lost. Everything that happens to us in the world passes into us. It all becomes part of the inner temple of the soul and it can never be lost. This is the art of the soul: to harvest your deeper life from all the seasons of your experience.

This is probably why the soul never surfaces fully. The intimacy and tenderness of its light would blind us. We continue in our days to wander between the shadowing and the brightening, while all the time a more subtle brightness sustains us. If we could but realize the sureness around us, we would be much more courageous in our lives. The frames of anxiety that keep us caged would dissolve. We would live the life we love and in that way, day by day, free our future from the weight of regret.

John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace

Just enjoy

Karl Duffy5 Comments

When a ray of sunshine comes, open out, absorb it to the depths of your being. Never think that an hour earlier you were cold and that an hour later you will be cold again. Just enjoy. Latch on to the passing minute. Shut off the workings of memory and hope… Take away from suffering its double drumbeat of resonance, memory and fear. Suffering may persist, but already it is relieved by half. Throw yourself into each moment as if it were the only one that really existed.

Jacques Lusseyran, 1924–1971, And there was Light.

Lusseyran became blind after a childhood accident, worked with the Resistance in World War Two and survived the Concentration Camp at Buchenwald.

Thanks to Maura Parolini for the quote suggestion. It is taken from the beautiful site The Marginalian

Things stick

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

“The Great way is not difficult. It just avoids picking and choosing.” There is a Taoist flavor to this saying. The sense of following the water path through life. The water if it runs into a stone, it just makes its way around. The water is clear and has no attachments which is why we have a little bowl of water on the altar.…. If we are clear, we hang onto the clarity. This old student doesn’t even hang onto that. Do you still hang onto anything, or not? So we could say that the greatest method of meditation is that whatever comes up, just don’t cling to it. Whatever comes up, let it go. If you can do this, you’ll find the way home very quickly. But it’s hard. Things stick to you.


John Tarrant

Sunday Quote: Indifferent

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Learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference

Marcus Aurelius

Dying slowly

Karl Duffy3 Comments

You start dying slowly
if you do not travel,
if you do not read,
if you do not listen to the sounds of life,
if you do not appreciate yourself.

You start dying slowly
If you become a slave of your habits,
Walking everyday on the same paths…
If you do not change your routine,
If you do not wear different colours
Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.

You start dying slowly
If you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, or with your love,
If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain,
If you do not go after a dream,
If you do not allow yourself,
At least once in your lifetime,
To run away from sensible advice.

Pablo Neruda, You Start Dying Slowly 

The small ways

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If you assume that purpose is something big, you might think its something that you’ll feel at some point down the road, after you’ve achieved something significant. You’re pushing purpose off into the future instead of creating it day-to-day. This mindset prevents you from identifying all the small ways you can contribute to the world right now.

Lori Deschene, Tiny Buddha blog