Tag: Mindfulness

The two wings

Karl Duffy2 Comments
File:Bird in flight wings spread.jpg
The two parts of genuine acceptance — seeing clearly and holding our experience with compassion —are as interdependent as the two wings of a great bird. Together, they enable us to fly and be free.The wing of clear seeing is described …..as mindfulness. This is the quality of awareness that recognizes exactly what is happening in our moment-to-moment experience. When we are mindful of fear, for instance, we are aware that our thoughts are racing, that our body feels tight and shaky, that we feel compelled to flee — and we recognize all this without trying to manage our experience in any way, without pulling away. The second wing of Radical Acceptance, compassion, is our capacity to relate in a tender and sympathetic way to what we perceive. Instead of resisting our feelings of fear or grief, we embrace our pain with the kindness of a mother holding her child. Compassion honors our experience; it allows us to be intimate with the life of this moment as it is.
Tara Brach, Unfolding the Wings of Acceptance
photo bengt nyman

Sheltered

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Lamb sheltering in field in Penmachno - geograph.org.uk - 1433152.jpg

Wherever we are, whatever we do, all we need to do is recognize our thoughts, feelings, perceptions as something natural. Neither rejecting or accepting, we simply acknowledge the experience and let it pass. If we keep this up, we’ll eventually find ourselves becoming able to manage situations we once found painful, scary or sad. We’ll discover a sense of confidence that isn’t rooted in arrogance or pride. We’ll realize that we are always sheltered, always safe and always home.

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, The Joy of Living

photo richard hoare

Work with whatever arises

Karl Duffy2 Comments

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As many teachers have pointed out, “the path is the goal”. That means that what we experience as “obstacles” along the way is usually just a sense of our own expectations falling apart. These same obstacles can be viewed differently, as the basis for reengaging our attention and working through whatever arises, whether it is a sense of purpose and satisfaction, or boredom and resistance, or a sense of futility. Work with whatever arises

Cyndi Lee, Yoga Body, Buddha Mind

photo prayitno

In the bits and pieces

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Dublin in 2006.jpg

God is not all in one place complete,

God is in the bits and pieces of everyday,

a kiss here, a smile there,

and sometimes tears.

Patrick Kavanagh

photo Grafton st Dublin by executioner

Ordinary and more

Karl Duffy3 Comments

Mindfulness helps you fall in love with the ordinary

Thich Nhat Hahn 

The chickens leave the coop

Karl Duffy5 Comments

File:Hósvík, Faroe Islands (5).JPG

Feelings arise within the state of calm. The mind is experiencing feelings and calm at the same time, without being disturbed. When there is calm like this, there are no harmful consequences. Problems occur when the chicken gets out of the coop.  For instance you may be watching the breath entering and leaving and then forget yourself, allowing the mind to wander away from the breath, back home, off to the shops or any number of different places. Perhaps even a half hour may pass before you suddenly realize that you’re supposes to be practicing meditation and you reprimand yourself for your lack of mindfulness. This is where you have to be really careful because this is where the chicken gets out of the coop – the mind leaves its base of calm.

Ajahn Chah, What’s What

photo erik christensen