A lot of modern stress comes from the mistaken belief that we should always be working on a better version of ourselves, always looking for greater success.
In all ten directions of the universe, there is only one truth.
When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same.
What can ever be lost? What can be attained?
If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time.
If we lose something, it is hiding somewhere near us.
Ryokan, 1758–1831, Zen Monk and poet
Happiness is permanent. It is always there.
What comes and goes is unhappiness.
If you identify with what comes and goes, you will be unhappy.
If you identify with what is permanent and always there, you are happiness itself.
Poonjaji, 1910 – 1997, Indian non-dualist teacher
Don’t expect faith to clear things up for you.
It is trust, not certainty
Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being
Zen Master Dogen wrote, ‘The Way is basically perfect and all-pervading.’
I’m already in it.
We are all in it; we are made of it.
Susan Moon
Feelings are often born from a matrix of conditions beyond your control. Just like you can’t control the weather, or or your boss’s mood, you can’t control the feelings in your body. They are just passing through, like clouds in the sky. They, too, dissipate on their own. But if you take them too seriously and start internalizing them as part of your identity, then you will resuscitate them every time you think about the past. Remember that you are neither your feelings nor the story your mind tells about you to make sense of them. You are the vast silence that knows of their emergence and their disappearance.
Haemin Sunim, The Things You can see Only when you Slow Down
If we pay attention only to the negative things in us, especially the suffering of past hurts, we are wallowing in our sorrows and not getting any positive nourishment. We can practice appropriate attention, watering the wholesome qualities in us by touching the positive things that are always available inside and around us. That is good food for our mind. Naturally, when compassion comes up, arrogance goes down. We can selectively water the good seeds and refrain from watering the negative seeds. This doesn’t mean we ignore our suffering; it just means that we allow the positive seeds that are naturally there to get attention and nourishment.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Mindfulbalance 