vast blue sky
Behind the hardness there is fear
And if you touch the heart of the fear
You find sadness (it sort of gets more and more tender)
And if you touch the sadness
You find the vast blue sky
(Rick Fields)
January 30, 2012
4 notes
“ Sometimes the way we see our ignorance is by getting feedback from the outside world. Others can be extremely helpful in showing us our blind spots. Particularly if they cause us to wince, we’d be wise to pay attention to their insights and criticism. But ultimately, we are the ones who know what’s happening in our hearts and minds. We’re the only ones who hear our internal conversations, who know when we withdraw or feel inspired. ”
Pema Chodron “The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times” (via wheredreamstakeplace)
path full of mud in my face
Sometimes when you just get flying and it all feels so good and you think, ‘This is it, this is that path that has heart,’ you suddenly fall flat on your face. …You say to yourself, ‘What happened to that path that had heart? This feels like the path full of mud in my face.’ …It humbles you. It opens your heart.
(Pema Chodron)
widening the circle of compassion
Widening the circle of compassion: it’s daring not to shut anyone out of hearts, not to make anyone an enemy. If we begin to live like this, we’ll find that we actually can’t define someone as completely right or completely wrong anymore. Life is more slippery and playful than that. Trying to find absolute rights and wrongs is a trick we play on ourselves to feel secure and comfortable.
(Pema Chodron)
At one time you were a mountain, at one time you were a cloud. This is not poetry, this is science. (Thich Nhat Hanh)
December 18, 2011
1,523 notes
Smile, breathe and go slowly.
5 quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh:
In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change. (Thich Nhat Hanh)
When we develop concentration on interbeing, on the interconnectedness of all things, we see that if we make them suffer they will make us suffer in return.
(Thich Nhat Hanh)
Life is both dreadful and wonderful. How can I smile when I am filled with so much sorrow? It is natural—you need to smile to your sorrow because you are more than your sorrow. (Thich Nhat Hanh)
I am inviting you to go deeper, to learn and to practice so that you become someone who has a great capacity for being solid, calm, and without fear, because our society needs people like you who have these qualities, and your children, our children, need people like you, in order to go on, in order to become solid, and calm, and without fear. (Thich Nhat Hanh)
Smile, breathe and go slowly. (Thich Nhat Hanh)
Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found. (Pema Chödrön)
I’ve been exposed to plenty of annihilation in my life: head injuries, physical assaults, accidents, relationship train wrecks, mental meltdowns, pervasive harassment. I’ve eaten pavement and stared down the barrel of a gun. TBI (Traumatic Brain Injuries) are intense and life-disrupting. I know what it’s like to lose my pride, my cognitive function, the ability to speak. I know what it’s like to lose jobs, money, my self-respect. I know what it’s like to lose my mental health, my confidence, my friends. The only thing that survived? That proved to be indestructible? My heart. It refuses to stop loving. And it’s gotten stronger.
