“Pain is inevitable; Suffering is optional.”— Haruki Murakami If you’re familiar with the teachings of mindfulness or Buddhism, you may have come across the expression, “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” But what does it mean? You’d think that suffering is a perfectly normal response to experiencing pain, wouldn’t you? That the two are synonymous? …
Mindfulness is the state of being awake to the present moment; being consciously aware of thoughts, feelings and physical sensations as they arise moment by moment, with an attitude of compassion and non-judgemental acceptance. The above description of mindfulness is in pretty stark contrast to most people’s everyday experience of life. At the breakfast table, …
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“The bad news is you are falling through air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is there is no ground.” — Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche Do the things you used to define yourself by— your career, self-image, earnings, social status etc., feel less important, less meaningful than they used to? Do you feel you’ve …
You don’t need to have a peaceful mind to experience peace. Peace happens naturally when the mind subsides. When I offer meditation taster sessions to the public, it never ceases to amaze me how people who have never meditated before will often experience profound peace the first time they try it. Even deeply unhappy people …
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“What you resist not only persists but grows in size.”—Carl Jung The Butterfly Net And Fly Swatter Approach to Life In her book “What’s In The Way Is The Way,” Mary O’Malley uses a great analogy to describe how most people live their lives. She describes a person standing in a beautiful meadow, holding a butterfly …
What You Resist Persists—How To Embrace Life Just As It Is Read More »
Our natural state is to be in love with life and thrilled by every little thing. It is a state of great-fullness. Adapted from the book ‘Awaken The Happy You.” When I was about eight or nine years old, I was out shopping with my mother one day. As we walked along the …
“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.” — Hafiz In his book, “The Power of Now,” Eckhart Tolle opens with a powerful story about an old beggar. The old man had been sitting for many years on a beat-up old box by the side …
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A Tale Of Two Wolves One evening a Cherokee elder was telling his grandson the story of the battle that goes on inside people. He said: “The battle is between the two wolves that live inside us all. One is unhappiness. It is fear, worry, anger, jealousy, sorrow, self-pity and resentment. The other is happiness. …
“You say you want to get rid of the noise, but you and the noise go together. You have to be you without ‘you’ and all the noise will stop.” ― Mooji In this era of mass consumerism and chronic overstimulation, people have become more stressed and disconnected from themselves and others than ever before. …
Extreme Minimalism — Leaving Your Mind At The Door Read More »
First published on October 15th 2019 It can be a real challenge to stay calm and peaceful when you’re being overrun by negative thoughts. Fear thoughts, worry thoughts, doubt thoughts, judgement thoughts appear in your head—unannounced and uninvited—and start wreaking havoc. You feel powerless and overwhelmed. And the more attention you give them— wrestling them, …