Make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
~ Frances of Assisi, Let it be easy (pp 115) by Tolly Burkan
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The best teacher - you
When you cultivate the ability to focus your attention one hundred percent, you will become your own best teacher. You will be able to learn from situations you never even noticed before. so many problems are juts byproducts of not paying attention. Children spill milk as a result of not paying attention. Someone fall down a flight of stairs because they are not paying attention. Litter, war, pollution and prejudice are all a result of not paying attention. In fact, when you are behind the wheel of a car, paying attention can literally save your life.
Paying attention to your thoughts will reveal how you yourself create most of your problems. Paying attention to your habits, actions and relationships will give you insights that will add to your personal power and effectiveness in the world. For example, make a conscious decision to pay attention to a certain habit you'd like to control. Start with small things, something easy.
As you begin to pay attention, you'll notice more and more every time those unconscious interjections occur in your speech. Don't judge yourself or even try to change the habit. Just continue to pay attention.
Before long, the habit will have corrected itself as if by magic. You will not have to make any conscious effort to do anything at all to bring about the results you desire. All you do is to begin to pay attention in a new way, and your life suddenly improves.
Attentive awareness enables us to cope with life' seemingly contradictory and paradoxical nature. It enables us to be aware of our egos and see them clearly. It permits us to step back from the melodrama of our lives and watch it all unfold as if on a movie screen. It creates the needed detachment to laugh at our own foibles and shortcomings.
~ Let it be easy: Simple actions to create an extraordinary life (pp. 100-2) by Tolly Burkan
Paying attention to your thoughts will reveal how you yourself create most of your problems. Paying attention to your habits, actions and relationships will give you insights that will add to your personal power and effectiveness in the world. For example, make a conscious decision to pay attention to a certain habit you'd like to control. Start with small things, something easy.
As you begin to pay attention, you'll notice more and more every time those unconscious interjections occur in your speech. Don't judge yourself or even try to change the habit. Just continue to pay attention.
Before long, the habit will have corrected itself as if by magic. You will not have to make any conscious effort to do anything at all to bring about the results you desire. All you do is to begin to pay attention in a new way, and your life suddenly improves.
Attentive awareness enables us to cope with life' seemingly contradictory and paradoxical nature. It enables us to be aware of our egos and see them clearly. It permits us to step back from the melodrama of our lives and watch it all unfold as if on a movie screen. It creates the needed detachment to laugh at our own foibles and shortcomings.
~ Let it be easy: Simple actions to create an extraordinary life (pp. 100-2) by Tolly Burkan
Friday, October 17, 2008
Anger and Anxiety
Everyone of us feels anger at times, but it is an emotion to be wary of. Anger shrinks us and contaminates us, keeping us poor and fearful. It kills love and keeps us distant from other people.
Anger is a signal we must listen to. When you are angry, it is a sign that something needs to change. Listen to it and make the change, but do not simply stay angry. Those who are angry for much of the time are blocking their own paths to spiritual development. You cannot transform fear into security while you are angry. So when anger rises in you, do nothing to feed it. Choose instead to dissolve it with loving kindness.
If you are around another person who is constantly angry, then protext yourselves by moving away from them, at the same time sending them energy of love and forgiveness.
You cannot fight anger with force. Loving patience is far more effective. Impatience, which leads to anger, breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness and a generous attitude, which leads to success.
~ The Tibetan Art of Serenity (pp. 61-2) by Christopher Hansard
Anger is a signal we must listen to. When you are angry, it is a sign that something needs to change. Listen to it and make the change, but do not simply stay angry. Those who are angry for much of the time are blocking their own paths to spiritual development. You cannot transform fear into security while you are angry. So when anger rises in you, do nothing to feed it. Choose instead to dissolve it with loving kindness.
If you are around another person who is constantly angry, then protext yourselves by moving away from them, at the same time sending them energy of love and forgiveness.
You cannot fight anger with force. Loving patience is far more effective. Impatience, which leads to anger, breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness and a generous attitude, which leads to success.
~ The Tibetan Art of Serenity (pp. 61-2) by Christopher Hansard
Forgiveness
Each time we truly forgive, a little more goodness comes into the world. Forgiveness takes courage, self-knowledge, self-love and serenityu. The ability to forgive is the attribute of the truly strong. It is easy to say that you are a forgiving person until you are faced with having to forgive a deep hurt or wound inflicted by another person. Life is an adventure in forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the healing of wounds, however they may be caused. It does not always lead to healed relationships, but it does lead to healed lives. When you choose to let go of a past wrong and of blame and hatred, you choose to invite love and peace into your life.
It really does not matter whether the person who hurt you deserves to be forgive. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself because when you forgive, you release yourself from a burden of pain and bitterness. When you forgive, you heal your fear, from that comes serenity, and in that lives contentment. Contentment has no fear and is an expression of serenity that most people can sense and relate to. Contentment is mature happiness. It seeks nothing and cannot be reduced by circumstance.
If your life is affected by someone who refuses to forgive, or is not capable of forgiveness, wish them well and then let them go from your life, along with your anger.
~ The Tibetan Art of Serenity (pp. 65-6) by Christopher Hansard
Forgiveness is the healing of wounds, however they may be caused. It does not always lead to healed relationships, but it does lead to healed lives. When you choose to let go of a past wrong and of blame and hatred, you choose to invite love and peace into your life.
It really does not matter whether the person who hurt you deserves to be forgive. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself because when you forgive, you release yourself from a burden of pain and bitterness. When you forgive, you heal your fear, from that comes serenity, and in that lives contentment. Contentment has no fear and is an expression of serenity that most people can sense and relate to. Contentment is mature happiness. It seeks nothing and cannot be reduced by circumstance.
If your life is affected by someone who refuses to forgive, or is not capable of forgiveness, wish them well and then let them go from your life, along with your anger.
~ The Tibetan Art of Serenity (pp. 65-6) by Christopher Hansard
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Knowing your own Heartz
The key to truly being yourself is knowing your own heart and following it. Have you ever experienced a moment or situation when other people did not want you to follow your heart? When you were stopped from expressing what you really felt or from following a course of action you felt strongly drawn to? If so, take time to consider how that made you feel.
Though those who held you back may have had the best of intentions, they stopped you from following your heart and thus from being yourself, and that is often a painful experience. When we are prevented from following our hearts and being ourselves, we shrink, learning to hold back and not to trust our own judgement. When we are encouraged to be ourselves, we grow in wisdom, understanding and joy.
The experience of following your heart is powerful and dynamic and moves you beyond your old boundaries of experience. When you know how to read your own heart, you naturally acquire understanding of the hearts of others, for all hearts are linked and beat the same beat. So to follow your own heart is also to grow in wisdom, compassion and generosity towards others.
Knowing your heart is knowing what makes you who you are. It is knowing your reason for wanting life. One of the ways to know your own heart is to be in nature and to see it, not with your eyes, but with the understanding in your heart. Your heart then becomes your true eye on the world.
It is not always easy in today's world to know or follow your own heart. There are many people who know in their hearts what is right but who hesitate to follow what they know, waiting for others to act first and take the lead. In this way each person waits for the other and the only thing that happens is waiting. So be brave, follow your heart, even when that means standing up to be counted. You will konw yourself best when your heart is inspired by ideals and beliefs that bring you serenity and simplicity. And the more truly you follow your heart and know yourself, the more others will see beauty in you and be drawn to you. Live your life with compassion and love for others, guided by the pure, clear voice of your heart, and your spirit will grow. And as it does, you will move from just being - when you are purely reactive, to becoming - when all life is with you and in you. You will move from going with the flow to becoming part of the flow of life.
~The Tibetan Art of Serenity (pp.42-3) by Christopher Hansard
Though those who held you back may have had the best of intentions, they stopped you from following your heart and thus from being yourself, and that is often a painful experience. When we are prevented from following our hearts and being ourselves, we shrink, learning to hold back and not to trust our own judgement. When we are encouraged to be ourselves, we grow in wisdom, understanding and joy.
The experience of following your heart is powerful and dynamic and moves you beyond your old boundaries of experience. When you know how to read your own heart, you naturally acquire understanding of the hearts of others, for all hearts are linked and beat the same beat. So to follow your own heart is also to grow in wisdom, compassion and generosity towards others.
Knowing your heart is knowing what makes you who you are. It is knowing your reason for wanting life. One of the ways to know your own heart is to be in nature and to see it, not with your eyes, but with the understanding in your heart. Your heart then becomes your true eye on the world.
It is not always easy in today's world to know or follow your own heart. There are many people who know in their hearts what is right but who hesitate to follow what they know, waiting for others to act first and take the lead. In this way each person waits for the other and the only thing that happens is waiting. So be brave, follow your heart, even when that means standing up to be counted. You will konw yourself best when your heart is inspired by ideals and beliefs that bring you serenity and simplicity. And the more truly you follow your heart and know yourself, the more others will see beauty in you and be drawn to you. Live your life with compassion and love for others, guided by the pure, clear voice of your heart, and your spirit will grow. And as it does, you will move from just being - when you are purely reactive, to becoming - when all life is with you and in you. You will move from going with the flow to becoming part of the flow of life.
~The Tibetan Art of Serenity (pp.42-3) by Christopher Hansard
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