Tag: Joy

Simply…one step at a time

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Steps theatral area Phaistos.jpg 

As we go through our daily activities, we frequently get lost in thoughts of past and future, not staying grounded in the awareness of our bodies. A simple reminder that we’re lost in thought is the very common feeling of rushing. Rushing is a feeling of toppling forward. Our minds run ahead of us, focusing on where we want to go, instead of settling into our bodies where we are.

Learn to pay attention to this feeling of rushing  — which does not particularly have to do with how fast we are going. We can feel rushed while moving slowly, and we can be moving quickly and still be settled in our bodies. Either way, we’re likely not present. If you can, notice what thought or emotion has captured the attention. Then, just for a moment, stop and settle back into the body: feel the foot on the ground, feel the next step.

Joseph Goldstein,  A Heart Full of Peace

Moving on

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Flying swallow (6965069292).jpg

The swallows are gathering in the evenings now, and look as if they are getting ready to depart. Their natural freedom lies within us,  not something outside that we need to attain or become. It is often our fears that prevent us from accessing it, and we choose to stay safe rather than risk the journey:

Look at the birds.

Even flying
is born
out of nothing.

The first sky
is inside you, my friend, open
at either end of day.

The work of wings
was always freedom, fastening
one heart to every falling thing.

Li Young Lee, One Heart

photo Takashi Hososhima

Sunday Quote: Wake up

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

tree light

Awake, my dear.

Be kind to your sleeping heart.

Take it out into the vast fields of light and let it breathe.

Hafiz

photo Mullaghrellan Woods Kilkea

Enough light

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Candle001.jpg

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

What’s wrong with maybe

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

File:Angelo reggi candelabro.JPG

I have refused to live
locked in the orderly house of
reasons and proofs;
The world I live in and believe in
is wider than that. And anyway.
What’s wrong with Maybe?

You wouldn’t believe what once or
twice I have seen. I’ll just
tell you this:
only if there are angels in your head will you
ever, possibly, see one.

Mary Oliver, The World I live in

Inspired by s and with thanks to a-poem-a-day-project.blogspot.ie

photo robinhood22

At the door

Karl Duffy1 Comment

door

In practicing equanimity, we train in widening our circle of understanding and compassion to include the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. It is more a matter of being fully engaged with whatever comes to our door. We could call it being completely alive. Training in equanimity requires that we leave behind some baggage: the comfort of rejecting whole parts of our experience, for example and the security of welcoming only what is pleasant. The courage to continue with this unfolding process comes from self-compassion and from giving ourselves plenty of time. If we continue to practice this way over the months and years, we will feel our hearts and minds grow bigger. When people ask me how long this will take, I say, “At least until you die.”

Pema Chodron,  The places that scare you