Category Archives: Stillness

Quotes - 2010, Stillness

What’s The Greatest Wealth?

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Contentment is the greatest wealth. – The Urantia Papers

wealth

  • How do we define success for ourselves?

  • What is true wealth?

  • How much is enough?

  • What do we truly ‘need’?

  • What do we ultimately seek?

contentment

The very source of it all, the fountain of truth, the satisfaction of all our true desires, our eternal guide and our ultimate goal resides quietly within our hearts. It yearns to make contact, but often cannot because of the electro-chemical nature of our minds. It also does not because we don’t seek it. It never forces, but gently prods if we only listen. Stillness helps in making contact.

Daily Affirmation: Today I AM satisfied and thankful.

Recommendation: The Urantia Papers

The Urantia Book: Indexed Version with free Audio Book on DVD (Can only be played on a computer with a DVD drive.)Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6

Meditation Tips, Quotes - 2010, Stillness

What Is Meditation?

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Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet. It’s a way of entering into the quiet that’s already there—buried under the 50,000 thoughts the average person thinks every day. – Deepak Chopra

essentials

There are numerous definitions of meditation. One popular idea is that thoughts must cease for us to enter a meditative state. Certainly that could be classified as meditation; however for me meditation consists of 2 essentials:

  1. Discovering and resting in the peace that resides within us
  2. Making direct contact with God

stillness & inspiration

This peace that is nestled just under our stream of thoughts is very approachable. The trick is to be in a state of non-judgmental relaxed awareness. That means we just sit and be. We become relaxed in body and mind. We stay alert, i.e. not fall asleep and maintain awareness of all that goes on inside us, without manufacturing new thoughts about any of it.

Once we experience this peace it’s a great opportunity to:

  • Pray and make direct contact with God
  • Seek inspiration, which appears in the form of sudden thoughts an d ideas
  • Do creative thinking and planning

Here are some more tips from my site.

Daily Affirmation: Today I AM.

Recommendation: Moments in Between: The Art of the Quiet Mind
by David Kundtz

Moments in Between: The Art of the Quiet MindKindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6

Quotes - 2010, Stillness

Need To Understand

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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…

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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?

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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

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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

True MeditationKindle Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 6" Display, White - 2nd Generation

Quotes - 2010, Stillness

This Moment

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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)