The present moment is filled with joy and happiness.
If you are attentive, you will see it
Thich Nhat Hahn
Sunday quote: Be happy
Tag: Joy
Part of the world’s peace
Recently I’ve been pondering a process I call “bewilderment”—or, as I like to pronounce it, be-wilder-ment. I figure if we all become a little wilder, a little more present, a little more connected to whatever it is that makes dogs so damn happy, we’ll feel better and do better things. The first step in the bewilderment process is simple: CALM DOWN.
The whole world functions this way: Real threats do exist, but when we approach life with fear, we see threats in everything, including unconditional love. We puff up in self-defense, which others perceive as aggression. We use violent, extreme words and actions when peaceful attentiveness would work far better.
If you’d like to be-wilder yourself, try this: Whenever you notice that the monologue in your head is fear-based (worrying about the future, belittling yourself, fussing over what others may think) stop, breathe deeply, and switch to a silent loving-kindness meditation, repeating phrases like: “May I be happy. May I be calm. May I feel safe and protected.”
It sounds so simple, because it is. Wild things don’t make speeches, they just notice what’s really in front of them. What’s in front of us is a world where far more goes right than wrong. Make your mind part of the world’s peace, instead of its fear, and I promise, life will get better and better.
Martha Beck, Make your Mind part of the Peace,
Join the dance
The only way to make sense out of change
is to plunge into it,
move with it,
and join the dance.
Alan Watts
Natural unfolding
We think we’re supposed to figure out how life should be, and then make it that way. Only someone who looks deeper, and questions why we need the events of life to be in a particular way, will question this assumption. How did we come up with the notion that life is not okay just the way it is, or that it won’t be okay the way it will be? Who said that the way it naturally unfolds is not all right?
The answer is, fear says so. The part of you inside that is not okay with itself can’t face the natural unfolding of life because it’s not under your control. We define the entire scope of our outer experience based on our inner problems.
Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul
Sunday quote: Hold things lightly
No matter how much the spring wind loves the peach blossoms,
they still fall.
Dogen Zenji, 1200-1253
Home as a place of rest
If you can accept your body, then you have a chance to see your body as your home. You can rest in your body, settle in, relax, and feel joy and ease. If you don’t accept your body and your mind, you can’t be at home with yourself. You have to accept yourself as you are. This is a very important practice. As you practice building a home in yourself, you become more and more beautiful.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Mindfulbalance 