Tag: Mindfulness

Picked some ripe blackberries beside the woodland path I walked along yesterday evening. Freely given, like all of life, and not to be taken, as we say, “for granted.” The only real response is gratefulness.

Be still, my soul, and steadfast.
Earth and heaven both are still watching
though time is draining from the clock
and your walk, that was confident and quick,
has become slow.

So, be slow if you must, but let
the heart still play its true part.
Love still as once you loved, deeply
and without patience. Let God and the world
know you are grateful. That the gift has been given.

Mary Oliver, The Gift

The peace that is the nature of being is not a state of the mind; it is the nature of the mind.

It is the peace that passeth understanding –

the peace that has nothing to do with what is, or what is not, taking place in experience

Rupert Spira, Your True Home, A Meditation on Experience

To think we can control the world is an illusion.

But we can control how we relate to it.

Jon Kabat Zinn

When you can’t get what you want, your underlying tendencies to get exasperated or feel let down come up – and they then interpret the situation as ‘lazy disorganized people’ or ‘no one considers my feelings’. Actually there are generally a number of causes as to why things don’t go my way — the Buddha just called it ‘dukkha’ – but the immediate reaction and interpretation are an indication of tendencies in one’s own mind. 

So just to pause at that point – reactions are normal, but we can read them, learn what they are, and that they take us into suffering. We don’t have to guess at why things aren’t going according to plan; and jumping to a conclusion is always a move into the shadows of one’s own mind. 

So, pause. A pause is not a disapproval or a judgement; it’s an opening of attention into awareness. And that allows us to respond to our reactions with mindfulness and compassion. 

Pausing is an essential, deep and accessible practice.

Ajahn Sucitto