Tag: Present moment

The mind as an empty room

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sun windowAn image that is often given to help us develop the right understanding of practice is that of a vast empty room with an open window, through which a shaft of light is passing. In the shaft of light we can see specks of dust which, although floating everywhere in the empty space, are highlighted in the light. The shaft of light is the light of attention. The vast empty space is the mind. The specks of dust are the experiences of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches and mental impressions. The dust floats through empty space and if there’s right awareness, right mindfulness, we see it in perspective.

Ajahn Mumindo, Unexpected Freedom

Working with things as they are

Karl Duffy2 Comments

These are the things we can contemplate. We can’t control what arises in the mind, but we can reflect on what we are feeling and learn from it rather than simply being caught helplessly in our impulses and habits. Even though there is a lot in life that we can’t change, we can change our attitude towards it. That’s what so much of meditation is really about—changing our attitude from a self-centered, “get rid of this or get more of that” to one of welcoming life as it is. Welcoming the opportunity to eat food that we don’t like. Welcoming wearing three robes on a hot morning. Welcoming discomfort, feeling fed up, wanting to run away. This way of welcoming life reflects a deeper understanding. Life is like this. Sometimes it’s very nice, sometimes it’s horrible, and much of the time it’s neither one way nor the other. Life is like this.

Ajahn Sumedho

Keeping here

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daffodils11

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today; 

And give us not to think so far away 

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here 

All simply in the springing of the year.

Robert Frost

Why we look for attention

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

P1000418Underneath our nice, friendly facades
there is great unease. If I were to scratch below the surface of anyone I would find fear and anxiety running amok.

We all have ways to cover them up.
We overwork, over-drink, overeat;
we watch too much television,
we look for relationships.

We are always doing something to cover up our basic existential anxiety.

Charlotte Joko Beck

In our hands

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choppingGratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands,
because if we are not grateful,
then no matter how much we have we will not be happy – because we will always want
to have something else or something more.

Br David Steindl-Rast

Resting our mind

Karl Duffy1 Comment

474676v1Mindfulness involves resting our mind in a place where there is no anxiety, no fear. In fact, in that place we find the opposite. We find resourcefulness, courage, and a quiet happening. Where is that “place”? It is not a geographical location. It is not a location in time. It is the flowing time and place of the present moment. Anxiety is fuelled by thoughts of past and future. When we drop those thoughts, we drop anxiety and find ourselves at ease.

Jan Chozen Bays, How to Train a Wild Elephant