For the new month….
Every moment is a surprise, if we have the eyes to see it.
The more we cultivate awareness,
the more we realize that even the ordinary is extraordinary.
David Steindal-Rast
Every day is a new day
Tag: Mindfulness
Go easy
Was walking in the woods over the long weekend with an awareness of the Japanese term komorebi – the flickering of sunlight filtering through the leaves, ever changing. We can learn life lessons here:
When I am among the trees….
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
Mary Oliver, When I am Among the Trees
Allowing ourselves to rest
A Bank Holiday in Ireland. One of the nicest images to use when sitting
Suppose someone is holding a pebble and throws it in the air and the pebble begins to fall down into a river. After the pebble touches the surface of the water, it allows itself to sink slowly into the river. It will reach the bed of the river without any effort. Once the pebble is at the bottom of the river, it continues to rest. It allows the water to pass by.
I think the pebble reaches the bed of the river by the shortest path because it allows itself to fall without making any effort. During our sitting meditation we can allow ourselves to rest like a pebble. We can allow ourselves to sink naturally without effort to the position of sitting, the position of resting.
Resting is a very important practice; we have to learn the art of resting. Resting is the first part of Buddhist meditation. You should allow your body and your mind to rest. Our mind as well as our body needs to rest. The problem is that not many of us know how to allow our body and mind to rest. We are always struggling; struggling has become a kind of habit. We cannot resist being active, struggling all the time. We struggle even during our sleep.
It is very important to realize that we have the habit energy of struggling. We have to be able to recognize a habit when it manifests itself because if we know how to recognize our habit, it will lose its energy and will not be able to push us anymore.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Sunday Quote: things change
June 1st – Acceptance of the natural cycles of life – an awareness that nothing lasts forever gives rise to appreciation of what one has.
.The person who grieves over dead branches will never own a flourishing tree.
To cherish things without clinging – this is the way.
Yoshida Kenkō, poet and Buddhist monk, Essays in Idleness, 1330
endings
Every ending is a beginning,
and by focusing with so much fear on the endings that we face
we are perhaps missing an openness to the idea that there could be some beginnings,
and they might be worth exploring
Moshin Hamid, British Pakistani novelist,
Flow with conditions
The fundamental nature of mind flows with conditions.
Awakening is only peace.
When there is no obstruction in worldly affairs or principles,
Then birth is non=birth
Mazu Daoyi, Chan Master, 709–788
Mindfulbalance 