Resting in the emptiness

In giving up magical thinking (wanting things to be different than they are), we can have a joyful relationship with life. We're not always going to get what we want. Things are not always going to go in our favor. We're all going to face times that challenge us. In accepting that this is a natural part of life, it will be easier to let go of control.

It's time to give up the search for security, the search for certainty, the search for firmer ground. Let things change, let things die away, let go of attachments, release old crappy beliefs, feel your fear rather than looking for an escape from it. Learn to let all things be.

*****

Having faith

“The older I get, the more I see there are these crevices in life

 

where things fall in and you just can't reach them to pull them back out.

 

So you can sit next to them and weep or you can get up and move forward.

 

― Alex Witchel

 

******

 

Acceptance

What you can do with cardboard, paint,
and a little imagination...

She hugged all the parts of

 

her messy, beloved story.

 

*****

 



Accepting who we are

“When we can let go of what other people think and own our story,

we gain access to our worthiness—

the feeling that we are enough just as we are

and that we are worthy of love and belonging.

When we spend a lifetime trying to distance ourselves

from the parts of our lives that don’t fit

with who we think we’re supposed to be,

we stand outside of our story and hustle for our worthiness

by constantly performing, perfecting, pleasing, and proving.”  

 

― Brene Brown

 

 

******

 



The unhappy voice

If you often hear a voice in your head telling you how crappy things are,

it's the ego (the negative thinker) trying to pull you in.
Don't listen to it!

If you do, feelings of discontent and unhappiness will surely follow.
 

****

 



Accepting others

“We are like sculptors,

 

constantly carving out of others the image we long for,

 

need, love or desire, often against reality,

 

against their benefit, and always, in the end,

 

a disappointment, because it does not fit them.”  

 

― Anais Nin

 

*****

 



Doing our best

 

We learn wisdom from failure
much more than from success.
We often discover what will do
by finding out what will not do.
And probably he who never made a mistake
never made a discovery.

~ Samuel Smiles ~

*****

Acceptance

When I tried this morning, after an hour or so of unhappy thinking,

to dip back into my meditation,

I took a new idea with me: compassion. 

I asked my heart if it could please infuse my soul

with a more generous perspective on my mind's workings. 

Instead of thinking that I was a failure,

could I perhaps accept that I am only a human being--

and a normal one, at that?”

 

― Elizabeth Gilbert

 

*****

Life on life's terms

Nobody will protect you from your suffering. 

You can't cry it away or eat it away or starve it away

or walk it away or punch it away or even therapy it away. 

It's just there, and you have to survive it. 

You have to endure it. 

You have to live through it and love it

and move on and be better for it

and run as far as you can in the direction

of your best and happiest dreams across the bridge

that was built by your own desire to heal.”  

 

     Cheryl Strayed

 

****

 

 

“Alone had always felt like an
actual place to me, as if it weren't
a state of being, but rather a room
where I could retreat to be
who I really was.”  
 

― C. Strayed

 

*****

Listening to nature

I have been noticing the sound of the birds.

Their songs used to be the background noise,

but now it's the first thing I hear in the morning.

At 5:00 am, I heard the crow say "good morning".

 

****

 

 

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

 

Khalil Gibran

 

*****

 

Ask for guidance daily. Don't be led by ego.

Trusting life

Saying “yes” to life will quiet...

any inner conflict.

All our experiences are...

but fleeting moments.

Nothing lasts forever.

Allow things to be as they are.

When we let go of resistance,

 

things often improve quickly.

 

Ignore any stories that fear creates...

 

  about your situation.

Tell yourself "I can accept my circumstances".

Surrender is when we no longer ask...

“why is this happening to me?”

Don't struggle to find answers.

Learn to be comfortable with not knowing.

******

I found this little caterpillar on a passionflower,

waiting patiently to become a beautiful butterfly.

****

Cease trying to work everything out with your minds.
It will get you nowhere. Live by intuition and inspiration...

~ Eileen Caddy ~

*****

"I trust what life brings"

New possibilities

 

Acceptance is the key to serenity.

No matter what the circumstances are, if you practice acceptance, peace will follow.

How often we try to control things because we're uncomfortable.

 

We put fear in charge.

Learn to sit in the discomfort rather than forcing change.

Perhaps there's a valuable life lesson to be learned.

Life lessons are gifts.

Remember that resistance to any circumstance only causes more pain.

I know it's a lot to embrace, but open your mind to new possibilities....

 

 You will come to know peace.

*****

 

My little buddy Alicia (pic taken at last year's Christmas party with her friends). Her smile can

light up a room. Yesterday was a girl's day so we went to the movies and ate lots of popcorn. Yum!!!

 

*****

 

We turn to God for help
when our foundations are shaking,
only to learn it is God who is shaking them.

~ Charles C West ~

 

*****

 

 

"Life is easy when I let things flow"

 

Accepting others

One of kindest gifts...

 we can offer those we love...

 is the freedom to live their own lives.

It's not always easy to let go,

especially if we think they're making mistakes.

But remember that mistakes...

can merely be someones opportunity...

 to learn and grow.

*****

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
 

"Real love is accepting others the way they are,
without trying to change them.

Eckhart Tolle

****

"I can only change myself"
 

Finding peace

 

On my walk this morning, after listening for a few minutes to all the negative conversations
in my head, I decided to ask myself the question “can you accept this moment just as it is?”
At first, I felt a lot of resistance to this question…reasons why I couldn’t accept this and that.
But I persistently asked myself the same question over and over “can I accept this moment
 just as it is?” until I felt my resistance weaken.

What followed were tiny moments of being present.

As my mind got quieter, my new focus became my surroundings; feeling the cool welcoming
breeze as I walked, seeing the silhouette of the trees against the sky, enjoying splashes of colorful blossoms among the weeds, the steady rhythm of traffic…

Each time a story aroused in my mind, I would ask myself "can you accept this moment?"

Example: it looked like I might caught in a rain shower on my walk, so I said to myself 
"can you accept this moment?...so what if it rains…what does that mean…it means nothing…
can I accept walking in the rain...yes, I can accept it".

Needless to say, it did rain a bit on my walk. But it felt peaceful and cleansing...

*****

Whenever you can deeply accept this moment as it is... 
you are at peace.

Eckhart Tolle

****

 

"I can trust what life brings me"

Feeling disappointed

Loving myself means...

I will not always get my way...

and can accept disappointment.

I trust there are lessons to be learned...

from everything that happens to me.

Experiencing disappointment is a necessary part...

of my spiritual growth. 

I also can accept constructive criticism...

from those I trust.

****

Ordinary riches can be stolen,

real riches cannot.

In your soul are infinitely precious things

 that cannot be taken from you.

Oscar Wilde

***



" I trust that all my experiences are right for me"

A song in her heart

She celebrated life...

waking each morning with a skip in her walk...

 and a song in her heart.

Her contentment came from looking past life flaw's...

 to see the blessings.

The world felt kinder, safer...

something in her had shifted and healed.

****

“What lies behind us and what lies before us
 are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

***

"I can see the gifts life offers me"