Mindfulness – Page 773 – Mindfulbalance

Four years old

September 24, 2013September 21, 2013 Karl Duffy8 Comments

A more practical type of post this afternoon. I started this blog 4 years ago today so this is a kinda of anniversary. And like all birthdays or anniversaries it allows us time to celebrate and take stock. The blog started as a simple aid to those who had done the MBSR Course with me in Geneva to provide an ongoing support. And I hope it has remained true to that purpose: to post some thoughts which help people – now all over the world – trying to maintain a meditation process or develop a more conscious style of living, by relating directly to this moment. And my main thought is one of gratitude to every one who has read the blog in these past years – now approaching a quarter of a million – and who have commented, or encouraged, or in many different ways kept it going.

My first post was about change and referred to a wise Advisor, Fr John Hyde, who I had many years ago in Ireland. And since then I have witnessed some changes, many small and some larger, the most recent of which has been to come back to my home country. I recently put on-line a work-related site www.karlduffy.ie and would be delighted if you click on that and check it out. It contains some nice scientific stuff on mindfulness and recent mindfulness articles “in the news” which you may find interesting.

I finish by returning to the first quote I ever published. It has been the guiding motif behind the word “balance” which links the blog and my work site. It sets before us our daily task, one which is even more relevant today than it was four year ago.

If you hope to find lasting happiness, you must first answer the question,

what is your true priority – your inner or your outer life?

Philipp Moffitt, Loving Life’s Questions

Underneath change

September 24, 2013September 21, 2013 Karl Duffy1 Comment

When the stories of our life no longer bind us, we discover within them something greater. We discover that within the very limitations of form, of our maleness and femaleness, of our parenthood and our childhood, of gravity on the earth and the changing of the seasons, is the freedom and harmony we have sought for so long. Our individual life is an expression of the whole mystery, and in it we can rest in the center of the movement, the center of all worlds

Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart

Notice space

September 23, 2013September 21, 2013 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Most of our suffering comes from habitual thinking. If we try to stop it out of aversion to thinking, we can’t; we just go on and on and on. So the important thing is not to get rid of thought, but to understand it. And we do this by concentrating on the space in the mind, rather than on the thought.

Ajahn Sumedho, Noticing Space

The ease that comes from trust

September 22, 2013September 18, 2013 Karl Duffy2 Comments

In contrast to our frenetic, saturated lives, the earth offers a calming stillness. Movement and growth in nature takes its time. The patience of nature enjoys the ease of trust and hope. There is something in our clay nature that needs to continually experience this ancient, outer ease of the world. It helps us remember who we are and why we are here.

John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace

Sunday Quote: Autumn begins

September 22, 2013September 18, 2013 Karl Duffy1 Comment

Don’t prolong the past,

don’t invite the future,

don’t be deceived by appearances,

just dwell in present awareness.

Patrul Rinpoche

Seasons, growth and maturity

September 21, 2013September 21, 2013 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

The afternoon of life is just as full of meaning as the morning;

only its meaning and purpose are different.

C. G . Jung

The first of the leaves are starting to change colour here in Ireland, announcing the immanent arrival of a change in the seasons. So, a short reflection on the different rhythms and periods in our lives. Nikos Kazanzakis once told of a talk he had with an old monk about the changes that happen in life. He asked him “Do you still struggle with the devil?” “Oh, no,” the old man replied, “I used to struggle with him, when I was young, but now I’ve grown old and tired and the devil has grown old and tired with me. We leave each other alone!” “So it’s easy for you now?” asked the young Kazantzakis. “Oh no,” replied the old man, “it’s worse, far worse! Now I wrestle with God!”

The Old Testament story of Jacob wrestling with God all night long is in the background here. What the monk suggests is that there are different challenges or tasks at different times in our lives, and that struggles can mean growth and are not necessarily a sign of problems. In the early part of our life the main task is to develop the ego sufficiently to leave ones parents and establish oneself in the world. There is a certain, necessary, focus on establishing a career, independence and relationship, with a paradigm of succeeding. So one can be driven by the strong forces of ambition and the need for achievement, position and a recognized role.

The task in the second part of life is quite different. The struggles can be can be other than what we had to face earlier on. The drive for success which marked the first years has achieved all it can or has not delivered the fulfillment it promises. The underlying needs of the Self begin to assert themselves. What I notice most in working with clients is that a new paradigm is needed. A deeper struggle – this time largely inside the person – takes place, often to fill in the missing pieces of the personality, neglected up to now. The challenge is to become more honest and more whole, to free what was blocked and live life most fully. We have to wrestle, sometimes with a crisis, defeat, disappointment or loss, in order to leave behind patterns or strategies that are no longer effective and will no longer bring us growth.

I mean the Angel who appeared
to the wrestlers of the Old Testament …
Whoever was beaten by this angel
(who often simply declined the fight)
went away proud and strengthened
and great from that harsh hand
that kneaded him as if to change his shape.
Winning does not tempt that man.

This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
by constantly greater things.

Rilke, The Man Watching