Things do not always go according to plan:
Life does not owe us a smooth ride.
Our plans will be disrupted, and our expectations will often go unmet.
The question is not why this happens, but how we respond.
David Richo, The Five Things We Cannot Change… and the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them
Never forget that your days are blessed
You may know how to profit by them or you may not,
but they are blessed
Nadia Boulanger, 1887 – 1979, French music conductor and composer
You aren’t your thoughts – you’re the sky holding them.
Suffering starts when you become the weather.
Steven Hayes, A Liberated Mind
The ego’s habit is to try to control things, to make them secure.
But life isn’t like that.
The more we try to grip, the more suffering we create.
Mindfulness allows us to open to the way things are, to respond wisely rather than react blindly.
Ajahn Sucitto, Retreat talk
The flowers keep on blooming
whether or not you make mistakes
Beth Kempton, Wabi Sabi: Japanese wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life
A very windy day yesterday.
As the leaves fall, my favourite Autumn chant, the final lines of the Heart Sutra – finding an inner rest, beyond all coming or going.
Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā
[“Gone, Gone, Gone beyond, Gone completely beyond. Awakening, So be it”]
Gone. I release my grip on the small self. I let it go.
Gone. I let thoughts, opinions, and ideas drift away like clouds.
Gone beyond. I cross to the other shore, beyond division.
Gone completely beyond. Nothing is left to cling to, I rest in vast openness.
Awakening. Clear seeing dawns, the truth shines quietly.
So be it. May this awakening be sealed in my heart.
Mindfulbalance 