I wish I could show you,
when you are lonely or in darkness
the astonishing light of your own being.
Hafiz
Light entering the burial chamber of Newgrange in Ireland at dawn on the Winter Solstice
Tag: wellbeing
The basic Instruction
Do not pursue the past.
Do not usher in the future.
Rest calmly within present awareness,
clear and non-conceptual
Basic meditation guidance in
The Ocean of Definitive Meaning by Karma Wangchûg Dorjé (1556 – 1603)
Focusing on complete
One must bear in mind that there is a considerable difference between perfection and completeness…. The individual may strive after perfection, but must suffer from the opposite of his [or her] intentions for the sake of ….. completeness.
Jung
Be Happy
Today is the Third Sunday of Advent, traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday, or “Be Happy” Sunday. In practical, day-to-day terms, this starts from a mind that stops struggling with reality and one that realizes that it a moment does not have to be perfect for it to be complete. We do not need everything sorted out in our lives for them to be happy.
When we are using this term ‘basic goodness,’
we are talking about our inherent completeness.
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
Happiness is accepting and choosing life, not just submitting grudgingly to it. It comes when we choose to be who we are, to be ourselves, at this present moment of our lives; we choose life as it is, with all its joys, pain, and conflicts. Happiness is living and seeking the truth, together with others in community, and assuming responsibility for our lives and the lives of others….We are not just seeking to be what others want us to be or to conform to the expectations of family, friends, or local ways of being. We have chosen to be who we are, with all that is beautiful and broken in us. We do not slip away from life and live in a world of illusions, dreams, or nightmares. We become present to reality and to life so that we are free to live according to our personal conscience, our sacred sanctuary, where love resides within us and we see others as they are in the depth of their being.
Jean Vanier
Connecting
If you are connected to the body you are in the present moment. Now, any time we do mindfulness meditation, which is this very simple practice of noticing, we bring our attention to the experience, living that experience, and registering what’s here. If you are with your breathing it’s not only being with your breath — breath in breath out breath in — it is also letting the experience of breathing be registered in that experience. You are taking in the sensations of that experience in a deeper, fuller way. It’s like you are on the beach on a nice sunny day, you’re on the edge of the ocean, and you stand there and take in the breeze, the smell of the ocean, the sight. You really register the experience; you take it in. So, in the same way, you sit with your breath and take in the fullness of the experience of breathing in.
Gil Fronsdal
Breathing and letting go
Just staying with Thich Nhat Hanh to start this day, as his simple words can be one way of working with fearful thoughts as they arise. So if you notice yourself getting anxious, or the mind beginning to rush and lean forward, you might like to try saying these words to yourself, aligning them with the rhythm of your breathing:
I breathe in, I breathe out.
Deeper, gentler.
I become calm, I let go.
I smile, I am free.
photo: jamesjen
Mindfulbalance 