Tag: Present moment

The difficulty of just being

Karl Duffy5 Comments

It is hard to be fully present to another person, focusing completely on them and their needs, withour our own concerns, desires and needs getting in the way. We practice so that we can be really present, fully aware of the other, losing ourselves in a certain sense, so that the other can feel completely understood and appreciated.

No matter how quiet we are, the muskrats stay hidden.

Maybe they sense the tense hum of consciousness, the buzz from two human beings who in silence cannot help but be aware of each other, and so of themselves.

Annie Dilliard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Busyness is offered

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Busyness pervades every aspect of modern life, often presented as a virtue or even a benchmark which demonstrates that we are succesful.  In this poem,  Mary Oliver reminds us that it comes to us from outside – it is “offered” to us. We can have a lot to do each day. However, busyness or “speeding up” comes from our relationship to what we have to do. We do not have to accept it but can  protect ourselves from it by creating space. It does not have to be as extreme as the Chines poets . It can be quite simply some quiet time each day, or some time in nature.

Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe
that I do not want it. Now I understand
why the old poets of China went so far and high
into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.

Mary Oliver, The Old Poets of China

New to Mindfulness Practice 13: Don’t react

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In the process of focusing on our breathing and watching our thoughts come and go, we learn that they don’t have to react to every thought that comes into our minds, that just because the mind is jumping around and agitated at times doesn’t mean we have to jump with it. With practice, we become more comfortable with silence and sitting still.

Jon Kabat Zinn

New to Mindfulness Practice 12: Change the pattern

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Meditation isn’t really about getting rid of thoughts;

it’s about changing the pattern of grasping on to things,

which in our everyday experience is our thoughts.

Pema Chodron

Where we place our energies

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The quality in our life is related to where we place our attention. We go of all the things that are cluttering our minds, and free up space and time  to live each moment and each encounter with others more fully. This is true for each moment, but also sets the tone for the values which we choose, the direction we are going.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:21

What is important is not what someone is

but what they are waiting for.

Not the events of life, but its possibilities.

Dorothee Solle

New to Mindfulness Practice 11: Kindness, not judging

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Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way

— on purpose, in the present moment,

and without judgment.

Jon Kabat Zinn