It goes both ways....

Simple; also profound

Overcoming despair

Today I want to let you know about a brief but very sensible article that will help when we feel a bit overwhelmed by the way the world is:

4 Ways to Overcome Despair

Here's  the first way:

1. Act. As Joan Baez once said, “Action is the antidote to despair.” If you despair about a problem or crisis in the world, do something. Choose actions that will lead to positive, sustainable, lasting solutions; that use your best skills; and that you enjoy doing. You’ll find friends and support in the process; see the positive effects of your efforts, and feel buoyed by the capacity of action to create change

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Simple. Profound.

So very true

Much unhappiness would be avoided and much suffering alleviated by comprehending this great truth.

No class today!

Hello, dear Center folks.

Due to the snow, Wednesday ongoing class is cancelled.

Stay safe!!

~~~

To everyone!

Yes, let's.

Choice

It's a pretty good list, isn't it?

This actually works!

For all my American readers, "practise" really is the way it's spelled in Britain and Ireland.  :-)

 

Thoughts for the New Year

Hello, dear people.

I posted the following in January of 2005. I think it's time for a repeat. I am deeply convinced of these truths:

“Sometimes… a wave of light breaks into our darkness and it is as if a voice were saying, ‘You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you… Do not seek anything…; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.’” 

 As far as I’m concerned nothing else the great theologian Paul Tillich wrote comes close to the power, the startling, staggering, perfect truth of this famous “acceptance” statement. I sometimes think that if I were the rector of a parish I would be tempted to repeat this quote to the same people every Sunday for a year --- I think it is that important.

This experience of being accepted is not dependent on any belief system. But the question is sure to be asked: who or what does the accepting? I'd like to suggest that if you are a Buddhist you might experience being accepted by your own enlightened nature or by the Three Jewels. If you are agnostic or atheist you might experience being accepted by your own deepest, truest self - that self that is more real than your wounded self or your ego. If you are a traditional theist that acceptance may be experienced as coming from the Divinity of your understanding. Perhaps for everyone there can be the sense of being accepted by the Universe. In that regard there is a corresponding freedom when we have accepted that things are as they are. The story is told about Margaret Fuller who once exclaimed, "I accept the Universe!" It was Carlyle who then responded, "By God, she'd better."

All that being said I think it better to leave the "who" or "what" question alone. After all, Tillich did say "Do not seek anything... do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted." What would happen if you sat in meditation using this last sentence as your meditation support? In other words, just sit and let it be real and true that you are accepted? If we were to adopt this practice as a New Year's aspiration rather than taking on heroic resolutions I'm sure the freedom we would experience would be rich and profound.
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Done by choice

Here's a concluding remark by Laura Silva Quesada to a little article she wrote about meditation:

Meditation is done by choice, and is vital for overall well-being. It improves the quality of your health, relationships, job performance, creativity, and problem solving ability. It also allows for you to make better choices and decisions. With meditation you can make the most of your life, and enjoy it, and those you share it with to the fullest.

I really like the emphasis on choice. Choosing to meditate actually puts us more in touch with all our choices and is profoundly empowering.
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Dedication

This is dedicated to all who died in Newtown, Connecticut and all who mourn.



This may come across as a little sentimental to some and, frankly, I don't like the background music ---- and, yet, I think this woman has some good stuff to offer.
~~~

Well, it's about impermanence, isn't it?

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Silence in December

It's so hard to be silent this time of year, I know. It's really worth it, however. And because of all the frantic busyness, we need silence during this season more than ever:

Silence will help you avoid engaging in the games of competition and illusion that regularly seduce us in the outside world. Silence also helps you avoid distraction. It helps focus the busy mind---the mind that always has to be doing something, thinking something, the mind that always has to be otherwise engaged lest it become introspective and allow the soul's voice to override its own. The silence I am describing is a silence that you use to contain the grace you receive when you enter the Castle of your soul. This quality of silence allows you to engage in discernment. You carry this silence within you, even when you are with others. It allows you to hold your center amid the chaos of your life; it keeps you clear so that you do not do or say things you will regret or make decisions out of fear.

 -- Carolyn Myss

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Echoes of the spirit

A few years ago I gave myself a copy of Small Graces by Kent Nerburn for Christmas. Here's an excerpt that I stumbled upon not too long ago:

I try always to look upon the world and the people I meet as echoes of my spirit. I know that if I am speaking with deceit, deceit will be echoed back to me . . . Likewise, if I find that I am constantly cheerful, full of brightness and hope, or deeply contemplative in the presence of a particular person, I know I am in the presence of a gracious spirit, and I am echoing the gift that is being given to me. It is as if the lesson of the echo contains the secret to understanding the space between us all. 

This is really valuable to ponder as we are starting to come to the close of the old year and soon will be welcoming the new.
~~~

Something to ponder

Being together

Found on Facebook. Words to live by. REALLY.

Ah.... So very true