Brother, stand the pain. Escape the poison of your impulses. The sky will bow to your beauty, if you do. Learn to light the candle. Rise with the sun. Turn away from the cave of your sleeping. That way a thorn expands to a rose. -Rumi I always seem to turn to Rumi in my moments of deepest despair or sadness—when I am holding … Read More The Rose
Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. -Eckhart Tolle It’s easy to accept the present moment when we like the present moment, but not so easy when we dislike the present moment. This is normal and even sane; we wouldn’t survive as a species if we intentionally sought pain! Yet, to repeatedly and intentionally avoid discomfort relegates us … Read More Getting comfortable being uncomfortable
Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor. -Thich Nhat Hahn How can we stay centered amidst the busy nature of our lives? How can we stay aware as we navigate the unclear waters of relationships, working in the marketplace, and dealing with the practicalities of our lives? And how can we stay present and grounded in … Read More Breathe
As far as I’m concerned the only thing we need to renounce is our self-hatred and judgment of ourselves, and our sense of unworthiness, and our sense that we are not worthy of love. This is where we should start. If we could just work with that place a little bit the whole quality of our lives would change. -Krishna Das Krishna Das so … Read More Working with that place
You must not hate those who do wrong or harmful things; but with compassion, you must do what you can to stop them—for they are harming themselves, as well as those who suffer from their actions. -Dalai Lama Compassion and love are the foundations of a healthy spirit, healthy family, and healthy community. Yet, sometimes, we confuse compassion and love with codependency, indulgence, and … Read More Compassion
The hard truth is that spiritual realization is relatively easy compared with the much greater difficulty of actualizing it, integrating it fully into the fabric of one’s embodiment and one’s daily life. -John Welwood It’s challenging to bring our spirituality into every day life—to walk the talk. We can sit for meditation, read an inspiring book or go to a retreat and feel a … Read More Walking the talk
Peace and love underlie all of our emotional responses, even if we’re angry. You wouldn’t feel angry about something if you didn’t care about it. Peace, love, and clarity is our natural condition. -Adyashanti We make it so hard for ourselves to process our experience when we shame ourselves for our “less desirable” emotions. We tell ourselves that love and kindness are acceptable, but … Read More Your true nature
The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. -Joseph Campbell We talk a lot about unity, Oneness, non-duality. But sometimes in this discussion, we lose sight of the fact that we are each different manifestations of this Oneness—and expressing our particular brand of this Oneness is why we are here. Yet society, our families, religion has told us who we are, what … Read More Be YOU!
Great freedom lies in admitting the truth of this moment, however much it clashes with our hopes, dreams, and plans. -Jeff Foster Recently, I was doing my regular morning yoga practice at home, and in the middle of a downward dog, I found myself mentally going through my grocery shopping list. I instantly caught myself, and chastised myself for not being in the moment. … Read More Living in the Flow
People don’t really want to be cured. What they want is relief. A cure is painful.” Anthony de Mello I spent most of my life thinking I wanted a cure for my deep emotional and spiritual pain, and I sought for these cures in numerous ways: obtaining knowledge, being a good person, and trying to transcend the pain through my spiritual path. But nothing … Read More The Cure
