Category Archives: Stillness

Quotes - 2010, Stillness

Need To Understand

You don’t need strength to let go of something. What you really need is understanding. – Guy Finley

using sheer will

How many times have we tried, through the force of will power, to change a habit or to effect change? How many times have such attempts worked? I will wager that the success rate is not high, witness many of our failed New Year resolutions!

understanding comes first

Understanding why we act the way we do is key. Force often doesn’t work and even when it does there’s an equal and opposite reaction that might not be palatable. We must understand why we react negatively when someone says something that’s not agreeable. What exactly is it that ticks us off? Do we fear rejection? What is it that wants us to be right, every time? Examining that, understanding it, is key. The doorway to that understanding is being present to what is.

Daily Affirmation: Today I AM present to what is.

Recommendation: Arriving at Your Own Door: 108 Lessons in Mindfulness by Jon Kabat-zinn

Arriving at Your Own Door: 108 Lessons in MindfulnessAn Introduction to Zen BuddhismKindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6

Quotes - 2010, Stillness

Suffering Is Optional…

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.  – Zen Proverb

emotional pain

This quote references emotional pain. The kind of pain we feel when someone rejects us, abuses us, is nasty or behaves contrary to our expectation of them. How do you handle such pain?

we choose

We choose our reaction to life events. That reaction results in how we feel internally, whether we suffer or are at peace. Imagine an orange in your mind’s eye. For some of us our mouth will start to water and we might even sense a citrine aroma. Why is that? It’s because of our past experience with an orange. It’s not reality but we can feel and sense an orange nevertheless. Similarly we react when our self-image is affected in any manner by external events. Our self-image is impacted by external events, we identify closely with this self-image, we think it’s us, all it really is a bunch of reactions and a construction of our thoughts. We are not our thoughts, we are not our self-image. We are the awareness that witnesses the self-image. As soon as we can realize that and learn to step back, see things as they are, we can start to claim our true self. That self cannot feel pain or fear unless we choose it. Stillness quickens the acquisition of this self.

Daily Affirmation: Today I see truth.

Recommendation: Thich Nhat Hanh: Essential Writings by Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters Series)Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6

Quotes - 2010, Stillness

Sight or Vision?

Sight is a function of the eyes, but vision is a function of the heart. – Proverbs

seek the higher

There’s the higher and the lower. Sight is from the body (lower) and vision is of the Soul (higher). There’s spirit (higher) and that which flows from it, matter (lower). Directions (lower) are how we get to a destination, and purpose (higher) is why we want to get some where.

vision

What’s your vision for your life? We tend to spend more of our time on daily activities. We have little time or inclination to raise our sights and look beyond what we need to ‘do’ for the short term. Sight is seeing what needs to be done in the immediate future, vision is knowing where life itself, is headed. Sight is more doing, vision is more being. To see we can keep moving, to have vision we must be still.

Daily Affirmation: Today I look beyond what I see.

Recommendation: True Purpose by Tim Kelley

True Purpose: 12 Strategies for Discovering the Difference You Are Meant to MakeKindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6

Articles, Quotes - 2010, Stillness

Deep Peace

The person should look for peace within and not depend on it in any other place. There are no waves in the depths of the ocean, it is still and unbroken.- The Buddha

within, it is

The concept isn’t rocket science but how many of us truly believe it, know it or accept it? Peace does come from within even if the object of interaction is outside us. It’s the interpretation of our experiences that allows us to be happy, sad or indifferent. The event is generally out there; our reaction to it comes from within. We choose constantly, it’s up to us.

below the surface

Our normal consciousness inhabits the stormy seas of the thoughts that we continuously manufacture. This storm is at the surface. Just as a scuba diver can descend below the choppy waters to enjoy the prevailing deep calm under the surface, so too can a practitioner of Stillness.

Daily Affirmation: Today I operate from the calm inside me.

Recommendation: True Meditation by Adyashanti

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Quotes - 2010, Stillness

This Moment

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. – Eckhart Tolle

this is it

Now, the present moment is all there is. This doesn’t mean that we live in the current moment forever, it just means that whenever we aren’t planning for the future or reminiscing about pleasant past memories, we ought to notice what goes on … in the present moment.

deepen the experience

There are at least two ways to deepen the experience of the ‘Now’ moment.

  • Through meditation or better still via Stillness. There can be a difference between the two. Stillness is just being still and observing whatever’s going on. It’s the essence of Zen Buddhism.
  • Through a mechanism that reminds us to focus our full attention on what goes on around us and even inside us. Are we irritated because we have a headache or are tired? Attention on the breath, are we breathing deeply or in a shallow way? What are we seeing? The depth of the blue in the sky, the shape of one particular cloud or the direction in which the clouds are sailing. The aromas wafting by or the sound of a child nearby. Using all our senses, we live fully, in the holiness and beauty of the present moment.

Daily Affirmation: Today I AM with me.

Recommendation: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual EnlightenmentKindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation)

Quotes - 2010, Stillness

Impatient?

Grave danger you are in. Impatient you are. – Master Yoda

impatient, we are

Continuing the Star Wars theme! Impatient we are, just about everything in our lives. Isn’t that true? I want my iPhone, I want that toy, I want you to …, I want that …, right now!! This is a tendency we all struggle with.

time for everything, there is

There is indeed a time for everything. In fact this reminds me of another quote:

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished – Lao-Tzu

Read this one at Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC if I remember correctly. The quote speaks for itself. Enjoy slowing down, breathing easy, and deep, inhale life, notice things just as they are, enjoy life.

Daily Affirmation: Today I move at nature’s pace.

Recommendation: Arriving at Your Own Door: 108 Lessons in Mindfulness by Jon Kabat-zinn

Arriving at Your Own Door: 108 Lessons in Mindfulness Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 6" Display, White, 3G Works Globally - Latest Generation

Articles, Quotes - 2010, Stillness

The Zen Mind

In the beginners mind there are many possibilities, but in the experts there are few. – Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki

the beginner’s mind

Such a mind is childlike. Not childish, but one that sees things anew, doesn’t discount anything, has few regrets and worries not about the future. It lives fully in each moment.

possibilities

Unencumbered such a mind is free to be creative and truly resourceful. This mind seeks possibilities, expresses emotions, resents not and exudes joy. What kind of mind do you have? Or does your mind have you?

Daily Affirmation: Today I AM here, I AM now.

Recommendation: Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (Shambhala Library) by Shunryu Suzuki

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (Shambhala Library) Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 6" Display, White, 3G Works Globally - Latest Generation