meditations
opinions…
a timely excerpt from Pema Chodron’s book When Things Fall Apart…
in the mud, we begin to wake up…
right action…
letting go of joy…
…a note I wrote after listening to a talk by Pema Chodron. life is full of ups and downs, good times and hard times. both of these are fleeting, arising and passing away as is all life. non-suffering comes from our capacity to fully live each moment and then let go of that moment.
it’s so easy to let go of the hard times – no need to talk us into that! but even our good times can be filled with suffering if we are afraid to lose them. wouldn’t it be better – more enjoyable, knowing that we will lose them, to just really – fully enjoy them while they are present? then when it is time to say goodbye, we let go in gratitude for the joy we had in that moment.
~j
#impermanence #nonattachment #life #gratitude #suffering #PemaChodron
Memorial Day 2016…
the cost of war on our souls is too high to estimate. we should meditate on this.
in some ways we all bear the cost of war, but none more than those and the families of those who have sacrificed their lives in service. to them we should offer our deepest prayers and heartfelt gratitude. and it is to them and our children that we owe our pledge to work tirelessly for peace and an end to war.
~j
#MemorialDay2016 #gratitude #peace #meditation
bend…
“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”~ Bruce Lee
#BeFlexible #yield #flow #relax #LetGo #bend #trust #peace #QuickSketch #JMWart
peace is every step…
#PeaceIsEveryStep #ThichNhatHanh #calligraphy
the end does not justify the means. the means create and are their own end. if we plant seeds of harm and suffering, then we will have harm and suffering ~j
#peace #harm #suffering
look to the sun…
“Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun.” ~ Kahlil Gibran
#TheBrightSide #LookToTheLight #life #wisdom #nature #peace #JMWphotography
we have enough…
can we find happiness, here in this moment?if not here and now, then when?
this underlying dissatisfaction and dis-ease is at the heart of Buddhism’s First Noble Truth, that life is suffering.
not that life is itself some horrible or tragic thing, not at all. our suffering partly comes from attaching ourselves to things, people and life as if these things won’t change or pass away in a world where all things change and pass away. and our suffering also comes from a desire that we must have things a certain way or that we must have more in order to be happy, to have happiness.
and yes, we have goals and dreams and these can be great motivators and they can bring benefit and happiness to ourselves and others.
but can we be happy in this moment, even while we journey towards those goals and dreams?
can we be happy in this moment if they don’t happen or happen the way we thought they would?
can we be happy with just what is, here and now?
this is a struggle in western culture, in a culture of want, driven by attainment of things, people, and status.
we have enough.
the Thich Nhat Hanh calligraphy and the quote below remind us that we can have happiness right now, here where we are at.
there is abundance.
“I see a fearless generosity in the flowers and trees, in the way birds sing out at dawn, in the steady drumming of the rain. As I grew older and found I had things to protect, I forgot. I completely forgot that I had always had enough in the first place. Now I am trying to learn this once again—total abundance, nothing begrudged.”
~ Sallie Tisdale
#WeHaveEnough #abundance #happiness #life #suffering #peace
The Metta Garden 