Tag: heart

The map is deep inside, in your heart

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

[Some] people feel that their real identity is working on themselves, and some work on themselves with such harshness. Like a demented gardener who won’t let the soil settle for anything to grow, they keep raking, tearing away the nurturing clay from their own heart, then they’re surprised that they feel so empty and vacant. Self-compassion is paramount. When you are compassionate with yourself, you trust in your soul, which you let guide your life.

Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself.

If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will teach you
a kindness of rhythm in your journey.

John O’Donoghue

Touch the sky

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Only from the heart

Can you touch the sky

Rumi

Sunday Quote: Do nothing

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon

is to be back in Eden,

where doing nothing was not boring – it was peace.

Milan Kundera

Knowing us better than we ourselves do

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

There is a twilight zone in our hearts that we ourselves cannot see. Even when we know quite a lot about ourselves – our gifts and weaknesses, our ambitions and aspirations, our motives and our drives – large parts of ourselves remain in the shadow of consciousness. This is a very good thing. We will always remain partially hidden to ourselves. Other people, especially those who love us, can often see our twilight zones better than we ourselves can. The way we are seen and understood by others is different from the way we see and understand ourselves. We will never fully know the significance of our presence in the lives of our friends. That’s a grace, a grace that calls us not only to humility, but to a deep trust in those who love us. It is the twilight zones of our hearts where true friendships are born.

Henri Nouwen

Being kind

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Appreciative words are the most powerful force for good on the earth. George W. Crane

Most of us would not consider ourselves to be deliberately unkind. However, it is probably true that we miss many occasions each day to be more kind.  We ourselves can probably remember occasions when we were hurt by others not doing something – not listening, not noticing when we did something, not being there when we needed them. Being kind does not always mean having to give beyond our strength. The Buddha spoke of making  “offerings that cost nothing“, such as  a compassionate eye, a smiling face, and loving words. So let us do the simple things, such as being present, or acknowledging what was done or saying words that are within our capacity to say, knowing that our heartfelt words can make such a difference in peoples lives.

Kindness in words creates confidence,

Kindness in thinking creates profoundness

Kindness in giving creates love.

Lao Tzu

We are asked to love

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business.

What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.

Thomas Merton