Freedom doesn’t come from getting what we want.
It comes from no longer needing life to be a certain way.
The moment we stop trying to control, we meet life freshly.
Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special: Living Zen
Stop trying
Tag: Meditation
Natural
Happiness is our natural state.
Happiness is the natural state of little children, to whom the kingdom belongs until they have been polluted and contaminated by the stupidity of society and culture.
To regain happiness, you don’t have to add anything; you’ve got to drop something.
Life is easy, life is delightful. It’s only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, your cravings. Do you know where these things come from? From having identified with all kinds of labels!
Anthony de Mello sj, Awareness
no effort needed
Why do we strive at all?
Is it not because we are trying to escape from what is?
But if you begin to understand what is, then all striving ceases.
Then there is no effort, only pure observation.
Jiddu Krisnamurti, The Book of Life
Instruct myself in joy
It was what I was born for –
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world –
to instruct myself over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant –
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar, I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these –
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made out of grass?
Mary Oliver, Mindful
Sunday Quote: as you go
To be a pilgrim is to notice the way the light changes the color of the hills,
to listen for the stories embedded in the path,
to let the journey rewrite you
Rebecca Solnit, The Blue of Distance
Cherish the present
Impermanence is not something to fear, but a great teacher.
It reminds us to cherish the present, to cultivate goodness, and to avoid wasting our lives in meaningless pursuits.
When we truly understand impermanence, we live with greater purpose.
Master Sheng Yen
