Tag: impermanence

Sunday Quote: just be aware

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Thinking is difficult,

that’s why most people judge.

Jung

I flow

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Move back and forth into the change…
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent Earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I Am.

Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29.

achieving contentment this year

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So, how can we achieve inner contentment?

There are two methods. One method is to obtain everything that we want and desire – all the money, houses, and cars; the perfect mate; and the perfect body. The Dalai Lama has already pointed out the disadvantage of this approach; if our wants and desires remain unchecked, sooner or later we will run up against something that we want but can’t have. 

The second, and more reliable, method is not to have what we want but rather to want and appreciate what we have.

        The Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living

Sunday Quote: let us risk

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Like Magellan, let us find our islands
To die in, far from home, from anywhere
Familiar. Let us risk the wildest places,
Lest we go down in comfort, and despair.

Mary Oliver, Magellan [extract]

Distinguish

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Of all things that exist, some are in our power, and others are not in our power.

In our power are thought, impulse, desire, aversion, and, in a word, those things which is our own doing.

Things not in our power include the body, property and possessions reputation, positions of authority, and, in a word, everything which is not our own doing.

Epictetus, The Enchiridion 

A prayer for a new year

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May we all grow in grace and peace,
and not neglect the silence that is printed
in the centre of our being.
It will not fail us.

Thomas Merton