Refuse to fall down
If you cannot refuse to fall down,
refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down,
lift your heart toward heaven,
and like a hungry beggar,
ask that it be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising.
But no one can keep you from lifting your heart
toward heaven
only you.
It is in the middle of misery
that so much becomes clear.
The one who says nothing good
came of this,
is not yet listening.
Clarissa Pinkola Estés, A Prayer
Mindfulness practice isn’t meant to eliminate thinking but aims rather to help us know what we’re thinking when we’re thinking it, just as we want to know what we’re feeling when we’re feeling it….Meditation is like going into an old attic room and turning on the light. In that light we see everything — the beautiful treasures we’re grateful to have unearthed; the dusty, neglected corners that inspire us to say, “I’d better clean that up”; the unfortunate relics of the past that we thought we had gotten rid of years ago. We acknowledge them all, with an open, spacious, and loving awareness.
It’s never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn’t depend on how long it’s been running; a shift in perspective doesn’t depend on how long you’ve held the old view.
Sharon Salzberg, Mindfulness and Difficult Emotions
Ireland moving back to much tighter restrictions again for 6 weeks, requiring that our inner resources be strong:
Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to was never there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it.
Where is there a place for you to be? No place […] Nothing outside you can give you any place […]
In yourself right now is all the place you’ve got.
Flannery O’Connor, 1925 – 1964, American novelist, Wise Blood
The mind can go in a thousand directions,
but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace.
With each step, the wind blows.
With each step, a flower blooms.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Eternity is not infinity
It is not a long time
It does not begin at the end of time
It does not run parallel to time
In its entirety it always was
In its entirety it will always be
It is entirely present always
Wendell Berry, Leavings
Sometimes, to get from where we are to where we are going, we have to be willing to be in-between…..Being in-between isn’t fun, but it’s necessary. It will not last forever. It may feel like we’re standing still, but were not. We’re standing at the in-between place. It’s how we get from here to there. It is not the destination. We are moving forward, even when we’re in-between. Today, I will accept where I am as the ideal place for me to be. If I am in-between, I will strive for the faith that this place is not without purpose, that it is moving me toward something good.
Melodie Beattie
