“Meditation practice is not about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we already are.”
-Pema Chodron
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Category: Quotes
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“Tell me, what is it you
plan to do
with your one wild
and precious life?”
-Mary Oliver
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“Remember that you are this universe, and that this universe is you.
Remember that all is in motion, is growing, is you.”
-Joy Harjo
“In the diary you find proof that in situations which today would seem unbearable, you lived, looked around and wrote down observations, that this right hand moved then as it does today, when we may be wiser because we are able to look back upon our former condition, and for that very reason have got to admit the courage of our earlier striving in which we persisted even in sheer ignorance.” -Kafka
Sow seeds abundantly
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The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.
-Carl Rogers
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“And herein we find the secret of propelling our heart’s desires from the state of imagination to the reality of our everyday lives. It’s our ability to feel as if our dreams have already come to life, our wishes are fulfilled, and our prayers already answered.”
The Divine Matrix – Gregg Braden
Note: If you already feel the way you would if this circumstance were true, then on many levels, it doesn’t matter whether it is actually true or not. It seems like this is often the place where the magic happens….
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“Though I do not believe a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.”
-Henry David Thoreau
“…the point is to flex your flexibility, keep catlike presence with a reality that is becoming more unpredictable. not in an anxious way, rather in a “no matter what, something good for me arises from this” way. the more present and accepting of the moment you are, the more you will allow your mind to present you with opportunities to capitalize on every reality you encounter.“
“So I would like to end this with a paragraph written by that young man, in a letter to his mother, the night before he was put to death.
…’and I want you all to remember — that you must not dream yourselves back to the times before the war, but the dream for you all, young and old, must be to create an ideal of human decency, and not a narrow-minded and prejudiced one. That is the great gift our country hungers for, something every little peasant boy can look forward to, and with pleasure feel he is a part of — something he can work and fight for.'”
This comes from the children’s book “Number The Stars” by Lois Lowry, and she is quoting the real-life letter of a leader of the Resistance in Denmark during Nazi occupation. His name: Kim Malthe-Bruun, and he was captured and executed by the Nazis at the age of 21.
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Your daily life is your temple and your religion. Whenever you enter into it take with you your all – Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
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Gratitude and Happiness
When this difficult thing occurs to us…they are opportunities and those who avail themselves of those opportunities are the ones that you admire, they make something out of Life. And those who fail…get another opportunity. You always get another opportunity. That’s the wonderful richness of Life
-David Steindl-Rast
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compassion
“Compassion…can also express itself in the simple act of Presence…just being there, just…showing up. I think that compassion also is often linked to beauty. And by that I mean a willingness to see beauty in the other, not just what it is about them that might need helping.”
–Krista Tippett
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“Loving myself exactly where I am is the only way to get where I’m going” – Tracy McMillan
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“Our capacity for wholeheartedness can never be greater than our willingness to be broken hearted” – Brene Brown
“A superior man always assumes complete responsibility, knowing that, ultimately, he has no control at all and everything is out of his hands. He acts with impeccable courage and persistence, expecting nothing but the inherent feeling of completeness he enjoys in the fullest giving of his gift.”
—The Way Of The Superior Man, by David Deida
This is interesting: how are you supposed to assume complete responsibility over everything that occurs in your life, while ultimately not having control over anything?
Life and I work together, as a team, as partners. Not opposing players, not antagonists, but partners. Who knows exactly how this plays out. What exactly the rules are.
But everything we think, and do, is woven into the web of experience. And is a part of the manifested universe. And yet if it so wishes, Life will catch us completely by surprise…
Not much to volunteer here, except an excerpt from Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. Vulnerability, it seems, is key to opening. How do I practice this?
how…do…I…open?
“It wasn’t just the relationship between joy and gratitude that took me by surprise. I was also startled by the fact that research participants consistently described both joyfulness and gratitude as spiritual practices that were bound to a belief in human connectedness and a power greater than us. Their stories and descriptions expanded on this, pointing to a clear distinction between happiness and joy. Participants described happiness as an emotion that’s connected to circumstances, and they described joy as a spiritual way of engaging with the world that’s connected to practicing gratitude. While I was initially taken aback by the relationship between joy and vulnerability, it now makes perfect sense to me, and I can see why gratitude would be the antidote to foreboding joy.”
The author uses the term foreboding joy to describe when someone is joyful but then immediately stops themselves from feeling that because of they don’t want to feel the vulnerability of joy. A sort of fear of letting go of fear, so that you’re not caught off guard by something bad happening.
While we’re at it, here’s a few more excerpts from a few pages back:
“In a culture of deep scarcity–of never feeling safe, certain, and sure enough–joy can feel like a setup. We wake up in the morning and think, ‘Work is going well. Everyone in the family is healthy. No major crises are happening. The house is still standing. I’m working out and feeling good. Oh, shit. This is bad. This is really bad. Disaster must be lurking right around the corner.'”
“A man in his early sixties told me, ‘I used to think the best way to go through life was to expect the worse. That way, if it happened, you were prepared, and if it didn’t happen, you were pleasantly surprised. Then I was in a car accident and my wife was killed. Needless to say, expecting the worst didn’t prepare me at all. And worse, I still grieve for all of those wonderful moments we shared and that I didn’t fully enjoy. My commitment to her is to fully enjoy every moment now. I just wish she was here, now that I know how to do that.'”
Maybe a life where everything is going well is not really our situation right now, or maybe it is. Either way, vulnerability seems to be a key to opening up and expressing your truer self, my truer self. Dropping the armor, personas, and letting yourself shine.
I guess I did have a little to share. And the author does offer gratitude as a way to feel the vulnerability of joy.
Bruce Lee and Self Expression
“The wound is the place where light enters you”
-Rumi
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Doesn’t Have To Be Forced
Doesn’t have to be forced
– Latif
Live the Life You Love
Love the Life You Live
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“All that is gold does not glitter;
not all those that wander are lost.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
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“…the beautiful thing is with Faith you never know how you will get passed things but you just do.”
“SOW THE SEED THAT BINDS YOU
FEEL THE STEEL THAT SIGNS YOU
PUT UP ALL YOUR RESOURCES
AND WALK INTO THE MAGIC”
-Mom
“This young woman knew that she would die in the next few days. But when I talked to her she was cheerful in spite of this knowledge. ‘I am grateful that fate has hit me so hard,’ she told me. ‘In my former life I was spoiled and did not take spiritual accomplishments seriously.’ Pointing through the window of the hut, she said, ‘This tree here is the only friend I have in my loneliness.’ Through that window she could see just one branch of a chestnut tree, and on the branch were two blossoms. ‘I often talk to this tree,’ she said to me. I was startled and didn’t quite know how to take her words. Was she delirious? Did she have occasional hallucinations? Anxiously I asked her if the tree replied. ‘Yes.’ What did it say to her? She answered, ‘It said to me, “I am here–I am here–I am life, eternal life.” ‘ ”
-Viktor E. Frankl Man’s Search for Meaning
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“Sometimes you literally have to grab yourself by the collar and pick yourself up.
The secret is momentum. Once you start you keep going. You dont stop.”
-Tashan
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“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
-Henry David Thoreau
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Who cares what people think – All that Matters is what’s in your Heart ♥
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“The fewer words, the better prayer”
-Martin Luther