Tag: Present moment

A time to nourish gratitude

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My colleagues and I are finding that gratitude, which we define as a felt sense of wonder, thankfulness, and appreciation for life, is more than simply a pleasant emotion to experience or a polite sentiment to express. It is, or at least can be, a basic disposition, one that seems to make lives happier, healthier, more fulfilling – and even longer. New data continues to pour in, but already it appears that 21st-century research will confirm what the wonderful G. K. Chesterton wrote back in 1908: “The test of all happiness is gratitude. Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he puts in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs?”

One is never lacking in opportunities to be happy, according to Chesterton, because around every corner is another gift waiting to surprise us.

Robert A. Emmons,  University of California, Davis

Just how life is

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You begin to see that there are seasons in your life, in the same way as there as seasons in nature. There are times to cultivate, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally there are those times that are cold and cutting and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events.

They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are.

Chogram Trungpa Rinpoche, How to Rule

photo iain macdonald

Getting a balanced life for Christmas

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Today the Christian Liturgy starts to sing the O Antiphons –  ancient prayers and aspirations, used over the centuries in the days before Christmas. The first of them wishes that we may grow in wisdom at this time of year around the Winter Solstice, when the days are shorter and nature quietens down, and we reflect on the priorities in our lives. In many old traditions, wisdom was a quality in the person which was so desired and special that it was seen as coming down from above. It was greatly treasured – the best gift one could get in these days –  because it gives a perspective and purpose to life and led to contentment.

It is good for us to remember these things when the talk  is all about gifts, and getting, and happiness.  Mindfulness meditation has two aspects  – it grounds us first and then leads us into a felt insight into the marks of reality, namely, that it is always changing and that even the importance we give to ourselves is a constructed, fluid one. This wisdom or perspective is worth cultivating,  as it tunes us into a deeper happiness, helping us to maintain our personal boundaries and not overstretch ourselves. It helps us to not link busyness or constant doing with  our sense of worth, and stops us filling our days with so much activity that we have no space to sense whether we are truly fulfilling our deepest needs. Real contentment comes from within –  from getting a balance in our lives and seeing things clearly.

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other,
and softly putting order in all things:
Come and teach us the way of balance.

Sunday Quote: Where wisdom lies

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Besides the noble art of getting things done,

there is the noble art of leaving things undone.

The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.

Lin Yutang, Chinese writer, 1895 –  1976

Being kind to yourself today

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Typically you will find that when you’re anxious, lonely, or depressed, you’re also down on yourself in some way, and that undercurrent of feeling deficient or unworthy is what’s keeping you cut off from your own aliveness, as well as your feeling of connection with others. The way of healing and homecoming begins with what I call “a gesture of kindness.” You might for instance put your hand on your heart—letting the touch be tender—and send a message inwardly. It might be “It’s okay, ….. Often, it’s simply,  “This, too.” Sometimes, this gesture of kindness includes saying “yes” to whatever is going on — the yes meaning, “This is what’s happening, it’s how life is right now … it’s okay.”
 
Tara Brach
 

Letting go of stories that shake us

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Be strong then, and enter into your own body; there you have a solid place for your feet.

Throw away all thoughts of imaginary things, and stand firm in that which you are

Kabir