Tag: impermanence

Let’s try quiet eyes today

Karl Duffy2 Comments

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/%E7%A9%8F%E3%82%84%E3%81%8B%E3%81%AA%E7%9C%BC%E5%B7%AE%E3%81%97_Gentle_Eyes_%288360606632%29.jpg

The theologian Howard Thurman said, “Look at the world with quiet eyes.” Isn’t that lovely? Just look at the world with quiet eyes. Usually when we are in the midst of life’s circumstances — whatever they are — we can be very reactive and therefore miss the many gifts for which we can have gratitude and also miss opportunities to give, thus making our very presence a blessing. It reminds me of some cartoon characters with eyeballs on springs that pop out when they see something surprising. But looking upon the world with quiet eyes, we can feel a sense of simply coming back into ourselves and into receptive mode. Ready to give and to receive the blessings of our life.

Gina Sharpe

photo Yuya Sekiguchi

Small things

Karl Duffy2 Comments

File:US Navy 070316-N-1003P-004 Master Chief Engineman Shannon Thornton feeds a baby boy a bottle of formula while visiting a baby orphanage in Djibouti.jpg

Whenever I stopped long enough to reflect on such questions as “Why am I here?” and “What is my purpose?” the answer seemed pretty clear. I actually found it long ago in some lines by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, words I’ve quoted often because they’ve served me so well as a kind of north star, timeless wisdom by which to navigate:

“Ours is not the task

of fixing the whole world at once

but of stretching out to mend

the part of the world that is within our reach”

Katrina Kenison, Mending the world

 

Doors

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Old red church door in village.jpg

Close some doors today.

Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance,

but simply because they lead you nowhere

Paulo Coelho.

Step through again and again

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

How do we work with this tendency to block and to freeze and to refuse to take another step toward the unknown? If our edge is like a huge stone wall with a door in it, how do we learn to open the door and step through it again and again, so that life becomes a process of growing up, becoming more and more fearless and flexible, more and more able to play like a raven in the wind?

The wilder the weather is, the more the ravens love it. They have the time of their lives in the winter, when the wind gets much stronger and there’s lots of ice and snow. They challenge the wind. They get up on the tops of the trees and hold on with their claws and then they grab on with their beaks as well. At some point they just let go into the wind and let it blow them away.  They have had to develop a zest for challenge and for life. 

Pema Chodron

photo Ingrid Taylar

“If only” this would change …

Karl Duffy2 Comments

drop

People [have always] faced the same kinds of  issues we face now, but with different window dressing. In the time of the Buddha,  men and women were arguing, gossiping, judging others, losing their perspective, overreacting, sexualizing their experiences, chasing after greener pastures, obsessing about non-essentials, feeling lonely and creating too many pipe dreams….. Nothing has fundamentally altered.

How many of us  are still convinced, mature as we may be, that if our partner would only change, or if we could meet the perfect person, everything would be fine?  These are the dysfunctional myths and illusions that drive our lives in very dissatisfying directions.  How many people remember the song from the musical Fiddler on the Roof – “If I were a Rich Man…” 

What is your “big if”?  The big “if” that leads you away from wisdom and reality?

Lama Surya Das,  Awakening the Buddha within

This is the way it is

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Gold Necklace with Medallion Depicting a Goddess LACMA 50.22.20 (2 of 2).jpg

Advice from two great teachers from the Thai tradition, where I find myself mainly at home.

Ajahn Sumedho has had a huge influence on the development of meditation practice in the West. Here he refers to an observation made by one of the great figures in Thai Theravada Buddhist practice, summarizing neatly the whole of mindfulness practice. Its an observation which is one of my favourites and points us towards the right attitude.

That being said, it’s not so easy to work with when circumstances are challenging, or, you know, those evenings when the heart just feels a bit lost.

Buddhadasa Bhikkhu said, “If there was to be a useful inscription to put on a medallion around your neck it would be ‘This is the way it is’.”

This reflection helps us to contemplate: wherever we happen to be, whatever time and place, good or bad, ‘This is the way it is.’

It is a way of bringing an acceptance into our minds,

a noting rather than a reaction.

Ajahn Sumedho, The Way it is