Tag: wellbeing

Clouds and rain

Karl Duffy2 Comments

clouds sun jura

You must not be frightened if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloudshadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall. Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any miseries, or any depressions? For after all, you do not know what work these conditions are doing inside you

Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Learning to stop

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

File:Pasture land with oak tree, after rain - geograph.org.uk - 1432125.jpg

A lot of rain these last few days….

Be silent,
as when the rain stops,
and the trees in the orchard
begin to draw moisture
up into themselves.

Rumi, You are the Only Student you Have

photo keith salvesan

A wise path

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Stepping stones on the Allt Smoo, by Durness - geograph.org.uk - 922020.jpg

Do your work, then step back

The only path to serenity

Lao Tzu

photo AlastairG

Ideas of perfection

Karl Duffy5 Comments

File:Heavenly Dews Grace Broken Leaf Imperfect Life.JPG

When we seek happiness through accumulation, either outside of ourselves – from other people, relationships, or material goods – or from our own self-development, we are missing the essential point. In either case we are trying to find completion. But according to Buddhism, such a strategy is doomed. Completion comes not from adding another piece to ourselves but from surrendering our ideas of perfection.

Mark Epstein, Going to Pieces without Falling Apart

photo wingchi poon

Sunday Quote: No Add-on’s

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File:Claudia Miseno.jpg

Our effort in meditation is to get rid of something extra.

Shunryu Suzuki

photo cannedcat

Rushing

Karl Duffy3 Comments

File:DilatingBeachSand.JPG

As we go through our daily activities, we frequently get lost in thoughts of past and future, not staying grounded in the awareness of our bodies. For simple, useful feedback when we’re lost in thought, we can use the very common feeling of rushing. Rushing is a feeling of toppling forward. Our minds run ahead of us, focusing on where we want to go, instead of settling into our bodies where we are.

Learn to pay attention to this feeling of rushing — which does not particularly have to do with how fast we are going. We can feel rushed while moving slowly, and we can be moving quickly and still be settled in our bodies. The feeling of rushing simply reminds us that we’re not present. If you can, notice what thought or emotion has captured the attention. Then, just for a moment, stop and settle back into the body: feel the foot on the ground, feel the next step.

Joseph Goldstein, A Heart Full of Peace

photo blkutter