Tag: wellbeing

Making every moment count

Karl Duffy2 Comments

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Mindfulness meditation is a wonderful tool for making each day, each moment of our life count. Paradoxically this is achieved by not doing more, but by doing less. We may feel that we need to do the things  have to be done faster so that we have time for doing more things. Mindfulness practice goes the other way. I may need to go to the store to get a carton of milk. The way to make the experience more satisfying is not doing it as fast as possible while thinking of other things, but to enjoy the walk to the store by paying attention. This way, we make every moment count. We are not sacrificing the means for the goal. Otherwise, our day becomes a series of dry chores.

Joseph Emet, Buddha’s Book of Sleep

No place to land

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

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When the heart is released from clinging,

then consciousness does not land anywhere.

That state, I tell you, is without sorrow, affliction or despair.

The Buddha, Samyutta Nikaya 12.64

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Where our time goes

Karl Duffy2 Comments

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If we strive to be happy by filling all the silences of life with sound,

productive by turning all life’s leisure into work,

and real by turning all our being into doing,

we will only succeed in producing a hell on earth.

Thomas Merton, The Silent Life

Content in being

Karl Duffy1 Comment

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The reason why men are so anxious to see themselves,

instead of being content to be themselves,

is that they do not really believe in their own existence. 

Thomas Merton, A Search for Solitude: Pursuing the Monk’s True Life

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Time simply for ourselves

Karl Duffy1 Comment

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One reason we do sitting meditation is to strengthen our capacity to be with ourselves. It is a profound act of gentleness, because we allow ourselves to simply be, without any need to achieve or do.  The weekend allows us a little more time to cultivate this space in our lives, through winding down, walking in nature, creating some area for “Non-doing”. This is a key to happiness, growth and to real relationships with others.

No other person will completely feel like we do, think like we do, act like we do. Each of us is unique, and our aloneness is the other side of our uniqueness. The question is whether we let our aloneness become loneliness or whether we allow it to lead us into solitude. Loneliness is painful; solitude is peaceful. Loneliness makes us cling to others in desperation; solitude allows us to respect others in their uniqueness and create community.

Henri Nouwen.

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The Basics of Practice 3: Training the mind

Karl Duffy1 Comment

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Each meditation session is a journey of discovery to understand the basic truth of who we are. In the beginning the most important lesson of meditation is seeing the speed of the mind. But the meditation tradition says that mind doesn’t have to be this way: it just hasn’t been worked with. What we are talking about is very practical. Mindfulness practice is simple and completely feasible. And because we are working with the mind that experiences life directly, just by sitting and doing nothing, we are doing a tremendous amount.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche