We are made, the scriptures of all religions assure us, in the image of God. Nothing can change that original goodness. Whatever mistakes we have made in the past, whatever problems we may have in the present, in every one of us this ‘uncreated spark in the soul’ remains untouched, ever pure, ever perfect. Even if we try with all our might to douse or hide it, it is always ready to set our personality ablaze with light.
Eknath Easwaran, Original Goodness
The first day of Spring yesterday was marked in Ireland with a fall of snow, heavy at times, but passing quickly.
Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity.
We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.
Marie Beynon Ray
A new month begins….
We are daily forced to choose between depression and anxiety. Depression results from the wounding of the individuation imperative; anxiety results from moving forward into the unknown.
That path of anxiety is necessary because therein lies the hope of the person to more nearly become an individual. My analyst once said to me, “You must make your fears your agenda.” When we do take on that agenda, for all the anxiety engendered, we feel better because we know we are living in ‘bonne foi’ [good faith] with ourselves.
Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the perception that some things are more important to us than what we fear.
James Hollis, Jungian Analyst, Swamplands of the Soul: New Life in Dismal Places
The ego loves to complain and feel resentful not only about other people but also about situations. What you can do to a person, you can also do to a situation: make it into an enemy.
The implication is always: this should not be happening; I don’t want to be here; I don’t want to be doing this; I’m being treated unfairly. And the ego’s greatest enemy of all is, of course, the present moment, which is to say, life itself.
Eckhart Tolle
When we try to settle, what we might notice is unsettledness.
Rather than go into the topic, recognize the energy.
Give attention to places in the body that are non-agitated.
Use the body and breath to change the speed of the mind, to steady it.
Once settled, then dilemmas and unfinished business can be related to, with dispassion, compassion and detachment.
Ajahn Sucitto
Let the bird sing without deciphering the song.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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