Tag: Life

Refreshing our energy

Karl Duffy1 Comment

glendalough

Often we can find that our body tenses up at moments of transition, such as Sunday evenings, or  in the anticipation of something which will happen tomorrow or in a few days. This can even affect our sleep as the mind switches into problem-solving mode,  and works on resolving what is perceives as a type of “danger”. We can easily become agitated, and there is a sense in which our spirit gets jittery, or in a type of “flux”.  As the poet does here, this is precisely the time we need to create some space  – maybe in meditation or getting out in nature – which will “hold us”,  allowing us to become calm again. In this way the power of tomorrow over our spirit today is weakened.

It is time now, I said,
For the deepening and quieting of the spirit
Among the flux of happenings.

Something had pestered me so much
I thought my heart would break.
I mean the mechanical part.

I went down in the afternoon
To the sea
Which held me, until I grew easy.

About tomorrow, who knows anything.
Except that it will be a time, again,
For the deepening and the quieting of the spirit.

Mary Oliver, Swimming, One Day in August

Photo: Glendalough on a soft day, April 5th 2014

Sunday Quote: Staying close to our roots

Karl Duffy1 Comment

fossil

At any moment you have a choice

that either leads you closer to your spirit

or further away from it

Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Saturday winding down

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

File:西湖平湖秋月.JPG

The first condition [required] is peace and calm; without that, it’s very difficult to see anything. That’s why a lot of our practice is actually to bring the heart to a state of balance and calm. Most people are in a constant state of reactivity. But someone who has seen the suffering of reactivity calmly comes to realize that it’s not the best way to relate to life; it is very limited – always the experience of ‘Self’, ‘Me’ and ‘You’. But as the sense of ‘Self’ decreases, the reactivity decreases also. It’s not so much the sense of Self that is the obstacle, its our identification with it.

Ajahn Sundara, Simplicity

photo jeff chenqinyi

 

Fixated

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

maze

There are actually two reasons why people in general are out of touch with their subjective experiences: They have ‘low definition’ bodies and they are continuously fixated in thought, especially verbal thought. Of course, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with thinking. Indeed complex thought is evolution’s wonderful gift to humankind, giving our species special powers that the others lack. Thought per se is not the problem. The problem is the driven and fixated way in which we think.

Shinzen Young, Bringing the Monastery Home

 

Simplifying our activities

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Ireland-doulin-seaside.jpg

Mindfulness meditation helps us work against the fragmentation which is a by-product of the modern world, with its speed, constant demands, and  abundance of stimuli. We practice in slowing down and simplifying life in order to be able to savour it more deeply. We drop into a natural goodness by letting go of the chatter of the mind and judgmental thoughts.

Sitting [in meditation] is essentially simplifying space. Our daily lives are in constant movement: lots of things going on, lots of people talking, lots of events taking place. In the middle of that, it’s very difficult to sense what we are in our life. When we simplify the situation, when we take away the externals and remove ourselves from the ringing phone, the television, the people who visit us, the dog who needs a walk, we get a chance to face ourselves.

Charlotte Joko Beck

photo Doolin, Co Clare, Nicola Mondinelli

Taking the leap

Karl Duffy4 Comments

Jumping (8) edited

As I sit at my computer in the South of Kildare this morning and look out my window,  I see low clouds, a grey landscape,  somewhat wet and windy. By constrast, yesterday was a lovely sunny day, which I find normally prompts me to see things in an open,  uncomplicated way.  The immediate reactive effects of the low clouds are less positive. It is interesting to notice the effects of these different changing conditions on our mood and our motivation. one opening us up, the other closing things down. When we are not completely open or when we are under pressure we can have negative or doubting chatter in the background of our minds, sometimes without noticing. One of the effects of mindfulness training is to allow us spot our habitual reactions and see them for what they are, types of mental energy that pass through, which we can hook into or not.

Whatever you’re meant to do, do it now.

The conditions are always impossible.

Doris Lessing