Tag: impermanence

Sunday Quote: Still heart

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

File:TofukujiReiunin1.jpg

In the still heart that refuses nothing,

the world is twice born.  

Jane Hirshfield

Release

Karl Duffy1 Comment

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Whatever is happening, whatever is changing, whatever is going or not going according to my plans

— I release my hold on all of it.

I leave behind who I think I am, who I want to be, what I want the world to be.

I come home to the great peace of the present moment.

Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open, How Difficult Times Can Help us Grow

photo Daniel Mayer

Who Knows?

Karl Duffy2 Comments

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We don’t know a lot. We don’t know much more than we know.

And it’s a relief to let go of our attachment to views, our attachment to opinions, especially about things we don’t know.

A new mantra began to form in my mind: “Who knows?”

This not-knowing is not a quality of bewilderment; it’s not a quality of confusion. It actually is like a breath of fresh air, an openness of mind.

Not knowing is simply holding an open mind regarding these very interesting questions to which we might not yet have answers.

Joseph Goldstein

photo Taro Taylor

Where to stay anchored

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

File:Boats tied up on Lake McDonald (4457743509).jpg

The past is a memory,

the future is uncertain,

now is the knowing.

Ajahn Sumedho

photo glacierNPS

Choosing

Karl Duffy2 Comments

File:Nicaraguan Residents Receive Care at High School Clinic During Continuing Promise 2008 DVIDS109439.jpg

We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid,

or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us.

We always have this choice.

Pema Chodron

Enough light

Karl Duffy1 Comment

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Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, “How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?” There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let’s rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.

Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey

Donne–nous aujourd‘hui notre pain de ce jour

French translation Matthew 6:11

photo Sasikanth balachandran