Tag: Stress Reduction

Making our experiences solid

Karl Duffy1 Comment

snow_melting2More on naming our experiences, which we saw in the Sutta yesterday. It is good to pay attention to this spontaneous tendency, as it lies at the root of a lot of our everyday suffering:

When we look outward, we solidify the world by projecting onto it attributes that are in no way inherent to it. Looking inward we freeze the flow of consciousness when we conceive of an “I” enthroned between a past that no longer exists and a future that does not yet exist. We take it for granted that we see things as they are and rarely question that opinion. We spontaneously assign intrinsic qualities to things and people “thinking this is beautiful, that is ugly” without realizing that our mind superimposes these attributes upon what we perceive. We divide the world between “desirable” and “undesirable” and see independent entities in what is actually a network of ceaselessly changing relations.

Matthieu Ricard, Happiness

Bare awareness

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Looking Outside

If everything is noted, all your emotional difficulties will disappear.

When you feel happy, don’t get involved with your happiness.

And when you feel sad, don’t get involved with it.

Whatever comes, don’t worry. Just be aware of it.

Dipa Ma, Knee Deep in Grace

Do less and less

Karl Duffy5 Comments
P1000426A lovely quote from the Ox and Window by the 17th century Zen master Hakuin Ekaku, which came to me through Zen teacher David Rynick’s Blog. It has a  delightful message, contrary to the rushing, achievement focus of most early January messages:
This year, I am determined to be more unproductive.  My goal is to do less and less – to move slower and slower until everything stops.  I and the whole world will come to a sweet and silent stillness.  And in this stillness, a great shout of joy will arise.  We will all be free – free from the advice of ancient ages, free from the whining voices, free from the incessant objections of the responsible ones. In this new world, it will be abundantly clear that the bare branches of the winter trees are our teachers.  In their daily dance of moving here and there, we will see once again the true meaning of our life.  In the wind song of their being, we will hear God’s unmistakable voice.  We will follow what appears before us – what had once been difficult will now unfold with ease.

Making time for each thing

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It is useless to force the rhythms of life. If I live with the anxiety to go fast, I will not live well. My addiction to speed will make me sick. The art of living is about learning how to give time to each and every thing. If I have sacrificed my life to speed, then that is impossible. Ultimately, slow means to take the time to reflect. It means to take the time to think. With calm, you arrive everywhere.

Carlo Petrini, Founder, The Slow Food movement

A little light

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Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say “How will the next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?” There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step that follows, with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let’s rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.

Henri Nouwen

Making time for ourselves

Karl Duffy2 Comments

474676v1We need to find a way of balancing our ‘inner’ work and our ‘outer’ work  and we begin to appreciate a basic paradox: that in order to be truly generous, truly of service to others, we actually need to be completely ‘self-centred’. We need to be able to stay in touch with our own hearts, listening carefully to what they tell us, even while engaged in external activity or interaction. We need to remain attentive to our own needs, and to really make sure that these are well taken care of  even if it means disappointing people, letting them down, not living up to the expectations they may have of us (or that we have of ourselves). This is not at all easy, with the conditioning most of us have: ‘Don’t be selfish’.

Ajahn Candasiri, A Question of Balance