I’m very busy

Speed gives life a frantic quality. It is an anxious state of mind that keeps us from settling into whatever we are doing. There is always something more important than what we’re doing now. We’re double-parked outside a store, trying to find what we need, while talking to our mother on the cell-phone. Rather than accomplishing our activity well, we are nullifying it, because we aren’t really there for it. That self-generated speed creates its own power and momentum, which begin to rule us. It’s a form of small-mindedness that blinds us to what life really offers – the opportunity to develop wisdom and compassion.

Wisdom tells us that we are meant to enjoy our life and use it in a meaningful way. A successful life is not determined by the speed with which we live. If we’re always flapping our wings, endlessly trying to get what we need with aggression, we will always be exhausted. We’ll never find what we’re really looking for, which is our own contentment. 

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

Me and my shadow

All states of being are determined by mind. It is mind that leads the way.
As surely as our shadow never leaves us,
so well-being will follow when we speak or act with a pure state of mind”.

Have you ever tried to run away from your shadow? As hard as you might try it never leaves you. Any action by body, speech or mind that is done with pure motivation will indeed lead to increased well-being. However small and apparently insignificant the act might be, happiness will follow.

Ajahn Munindo, Dhammapada Reflections, v2

A cold wind

I pause in my gardening to look at a bird overhead whose cry has broken the silence. A refreshing wind….dries the sweat on my brow. Joy in life, joy in work, wells up in me.

“The wind is cold today, isn’t it” comments an elderly woman passing by. Does one feel the breeze as refreshing or as a heartlessly cold wind? The difference lies not in the wind but in the person perceiving it

Centuries ago, when Chao-chou asked Zen Master Nan-chuan if he should seek the Way, Nan-chuan answered, “If you try for it, you will become separated from it

That which we call paradise or happiness…cannot be sought outside us. It will be found only when we notice that we are inherently endowed with it.

Shundo Aoyama, Zen Seeds

Appreciate the moments

You should be experiencing the life that happening to you,

Not the one you wish was happening.

Don’t waste a moment of life trying to make other things happen;

Appreciate the moments you are given

Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul

Sunday Quote: Our armour

Adopting a defensive position towards life can often mean we do not notice the nice things offered each day.

Even the general

took off his armour

to gaze at our peonies

Kikaku, Japanese Haiku poet, 1661 – 1707

Remember

November, and especially today, the Feast of All Souls, was traditionally in Ireland a time for remembering those who have gone before us.

Carlos Casteneda was once asked how we could make our lives more spiritual, and he said: “Just remember that everyone you encounter today, everyone you see, will someday have to die”

He’s right. That knowledge changes our whole relationship to people

Larry Rosenberg