Nature – Page 77 – Mindfulbalance

The seasons change…note the craving to be otherwise today.

September 23, 2011September 23, 2011 Karl Duffy2 Comments

The changing of the seasons reminds us that we too are always changing, as we move from birth to death. There are also continual mini seasons in our lives, as we have periods of growth and rest, of planting and bearing fruit. And the same dynamic is even seen in each moment, and is at the heart of being aware:

The present moment hovers between past and future, just as life hovers between birth and death. We respond to both in similar ways. Just as we flee from the awesome encounter with birth and death to the safety of a manageable world, so we flee from the pulse of the present to a fantasy world…..Evasion of the unadorned immediacy of life is as deep-seated as it is relentless. Even with the ardent desire to be alert and aware in the present moment, the mind flings us into tawdry and tiresome elaborations of the past and future. The craving to be otherwise, to be elsewhere, permeates the body, feelings, perceptions, will – consciousness itself. It is like the background radiation from the big bang of birth, the aftershock of having erupted into existence.

Stephen Bachelor, Buddhism without Beliefs

…and be grateful.

September 21, 2011September 22, 2011 Karl Duffy1 Comment

As we have said before, one do not have to wait to be completely satisfied with everything before one can be content. Similarly, everything does not have to be just as you would like it in your life for you to be grateful. One just has to give up the automatic tendency to judge oneself and ones life, fixing on imperfections, and the interpretations of our life which follow that tendency. Noticing small positive things each day, and being grateful for them, is a skill that can be practiced, and it develops our capacity to be just in the present moment. Being happy for the whole of our lives can start with us appreciating the moments of our life, now. And there are a variety of simple things each day which we can stop to notice and be grateful for – the changing colours on the leaves, a cup of coffee in the morning, a small act of kindness by a colleague, the taste of simple food. Each day presents new opportunities to just notice, no matter what our situation is.

Moments when we see

September 16, 2011September 15, 2011 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Sometimes, admittedly, the world can still of a sudden assume a resonance beyond

the one-dimensional, as the sun sometimes breaks through the Irish summer’s ample blanket of cloud cover.

And sometimes even in the rain there comes a moment when

the bird on the neighbouring roof is an ancient symbol or a hieroglyph

in the book of the riddle’s meaning.

And this is poetry, when the bird preaches to you, and you respond

By preaching strictly for the birds.

Ciaran O’Donnell, A Former Franciscan visits Assisi

On learning from nature

September 11, 2011September 12, 2011 Karl Duffy1 Comment

There is often an unspoken assumption that things should go smoothly in life, or that the Universe has a direct plan for us, and that it communicates it easily. Consequently, we get upset that things are not always that straightforward. When things go wrong we can often regard it as a violation of some supposed natural entitlement to order and predictability. However, if we look at the natural world we do not find complete support for this underlying assumption. The recent turbulence in the weather, and the natural disasters of this past year, demonstrate that things in nature are frequently unpredictable and disruptive. So we should not expect anything different in our lives. Bad things can happen and our lives can change, in ways that we cannot predict. Things happen in indirect ways, and reasons are not always immediately evident. Patience is needed if we wish to understand or work out what is our path.

Clouds are not spheres, Mountains are not cones,

Coastlines are not circles and bark is not smooth,

nor does lightning travel in a straight line.

Nature exhibits not simply a higher degree but an altogether different level of complexity.

Benoit Mandelbrot, French-American mathematician.

Sunday Quote: A still mind, not fixing….

September 11, 2011September 10, 2011 Karl Duffy1 Comment

God, rest in my heart,

Fortify me

Take away my hunger for answers.

Mary Oliver

On shaky ground

August 29, 2011August 30, 2011 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

We often find ourselves blown by this wind or that, unsettled, subject to varying emotions. Inside ourselves we are restless, uncertain, or can feel entangled. This experience is nothing unusual, but rather is at the heart of the human condition. In most moments, even after periods when things go well, there is an underlying hum of disquiet, of shifting ground. Some writers call this ongoing feeling “groundlessness”, others “loneliness”. Our first thought is to consider this as negative and it often leads us to feel disturbed. In today’s culture, the idea that one is unsettled or not completely happy is often considered a sign of failure. It does not harmonize with the media insistence on happy people or the myth of easily established social relationships. So we can react to this inner sense by doing more, seeking to improve ourselves, or by keeping ourselves busy and distracting ourself or by looking to a relationship to take the feeling away. However, at the heart of mindfulness practice is the understanding that life is always shifting and changing, that this change is unpredictable, that we always have some inner sense of incompleteness and that this is ok. It does not mean that there is something wrong with us or our life. It can be a liberation to use this as our starting point. Life has a changing and unsatisfactory character. It is hard to establish a consistent oneness of mind and heart that remains stable in such a way that there is never any disappointment. Accepting this truth opens the way to wisdom.