The real essence of good is found only within things under your own control.
If you keep this in mind, you won’t find yourself feeling jealous or lonely, pitifully comparing yourself and your accomplishments to others.
Epictetus, died 135 AD, Stoic philosopher, Enchiridion, Chapter 19
Keep your eyes open: God, his angels, are planting the beautiful flags we need to get home, to get others home.
Keep your vision clear, your heart open, and the hand outstretched.
Keep the beauty for only a second, then pass it on. Die with your heart full and your hands empty.
Tennessee Williams
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
You must decide for yourself to whom and when you give access to your interior life. For years you have permitted others to walk in and out of your life according to their needs and desires. Thus you were no longer master in your own house, and you felt increasingly used. So, too, you quickly became tired, irritated, angry, and resentful.
Think of a medieval castle surrounded by a moat. The drawbridge is the only access to the interior of the castle. The lord of the castle must have the power to decide when to draw the bridge and when to let it down. Without such power, he can become the victim of enemies, strangers, and wanderers. He will never feel at peace in his own castle.
It is important for you to control your own drawbridge. There must be times when you keep your bridge drawn and have the opportunity to be alone or only with those to whom you feel close. Never allow yourself to become public property, where anyone can walk in and out at will. You might think that you are being generous in giving access to anyone who wants to enter or leave, but you will soon find yourself losing your soul.
Henri Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love
Never rely on a second arrow. If you rely on a second arrow you will be careless with the first.
Every time you must be convinced that you have only one choice, and that you must hit your target with your one and only arrow.
Kenko-Khosi, 1283–1350, Japanese author and Buddhist monk, Essays in Idleness
Mindfulbalance 