Each separate being
in the universe
returns to (a) common source.
Returning to the source
is serenity.
Lao Tzu
Tag: inspiration
Take time – today – to celebrate
May you receive great encouragement
when new frontiers beckon.
May you take time to celebrate
the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
May you experience each day
as a sacred gift
woven around the heart of wonder.
John O’Donoghue, Benedictus
Sunday Quote : Opening to all that happens
God sends ten thousand truths, which come about us like birds seeking inlet, but we are shut up to them, and so they bring us nothing, but sit and sing awhile upon the roof, and then fly away.
Henry Ward Beecher
Everything is of interest
There is no such thing as an isolated event. Everything we experience, and the choices we make, impact on the way our life will be in the future. Thus, the best way to live a full life is to pay attention to and appreciate each passing moment, living them in kindness and openness, not closing the heart.
Every moment and every event of everyone’s life on earth plants something in their soul.
Thomas Merton
Developing a more cheerful mind
Cheerfulness comes naturally with meditation. It is a quality of space created within the mind. When there’s space in the mind, the mind relaxes, and we feel a simple sense of delight. We experience the possibility of living a life in which we aren’t continuously bombarded by emotions, discursiveness and concepts about the nature of things. Lack of genuine cheerfulness is a result of claustrophobia in our mind and heart. There is simply too much going on; we feel overwhelmed and speedy. We were somehow under the impression that life was meant to be happy, and now we’re getting the short end of the stick. The harder we try to contort reality into our fantasy of happiness, the less happy we are, and the more chaotic our mind seems.
We can depend on random experiences to remind us of these truths, or we can go about it in a systematic way by engaging in a daily meditation practice. When we practice meditation, we are encouraging this natural state of cheerfulness. We don’t have to regard meditating as a somber activity; we can think of it as sitting there and being cheerful. We are using a technique to build clarity, strength and flexibility of mind. In training our mind in pliability and power, we’re learning to relax, to loosen up, so that we can change our attitude on a dime.
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
Reduce your stress today: Flow with what is
This is a nice practice to work with, taken from Pavel Somov’s book, Present Perfect: A mindfulness approach to letting go of Perfectionism and the Need for Control. Why not try it today?
By insisting on reality being a certain way, we get stuck. To get unstuck, downgrade your expectations to preferences. Whereas an expectation is an unwarranted entitlement, a demand that reality comply with your vision of how it should be, a preference is just a wish. Instead of expecting traffic to be light, allow a passing wish for traffic to be light and then go with the flow of what is. Instead of wishing for that perfect warm weather to go out for a walk, acknowledge your wish for the preferred weather, then layer up and go out anyway. Instead of waiting for the perfect wind, pull up the anchor of your expectations and sail the wind that exists. Practice expecting nothing and flowing with what is.
Mindfulbalance 