I have gotten into the practice of almost daily forwarding on the Tiny Buddha and Daily Motivator emails I receive to a couple friends, usually without much fanfare attached but today I took it a step deeper, analyzing it a bit and really challenging myself to deepen my perspective, outlook and how I can be a value-add to a forward. As I realized today how much wisdom coincides with my reality I imparted that upon my email recipients as outlined below...
OK, so it creeps me out how much these daily pieces of wisdom I get coincide with each other. I like to take a minute or two each day and read them and then reflect a little on what wisdom it imparts for me that moment, that day and going forward.
As you all know, I get very frustrated in my current job (I won't call it my career) but yet, I am still here because despite my negativity towards it there are still many positives I can also draw upon to get me through the worst of times, times that mostly come from my own head and my own sense of self-worth or value-add.
In times of frustration, as both the Daily Motivator and Tiny Buddha outline, look for the positives, no matter how small. Ask yourself, as I do each morning, what is one thought or action that I can change/adjust today. Remember: Change only occurs when the pain of changing becomes less than the pain of staying the same.
So today, challenge yourself to change one thing, one outlook, one experience.
Namaste.
From: http://greatday.com
Thursday, January 27, 2011
You'll get through
You'll get through this day, and you'll have more strength, richness and wisdom as a result. You'll get through this month, this year, this life, all while adding to the already-great value that is your existence.
You have what it takes to find your way through, and indeed you will. Though it won't always be easy or comfortable or convenient, you will surely and steadily move forward.
You can choose to let the fears hold you back for a while. Or you can choose to let those fears inform and prepare you, and then move on through them to where you are meant to be.
You can come up with all sorts of creative excuses to avoid making progress. Eventually, though, you'll realize what you're missing and will decide to leave those excuses behind.
Whatever comes along, you'll get through it. At some point you'll learn to stop fighting, to stop struggling, to stop complaining, and allow yourself to successfully handle whatever comes your way.
The worries, the fears, the anxieties and moments of hesitation will all be proven wrong. Because one way or another, you will get through.
-- Ralph Marston
Read more: http://greatday.com/#ixzz1CG0u5QYK
From http://tinybuddha.com
Tiny Wisdom: On Embracing Pain
Jan 27, 2011 01:07 am | Lori Deschene
“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.” -Kenji Miyazawa
On days when I’m feeling overwhelmed by thoughts, feelings, or situations that seem hurtful, I ask myself: what can I take from this moment that will be useful for the ones ahead? What can I learn, address, challenge, change, improve, or simply accept to cause myself less pain going forward?
It doesn’t change that things might feel difficult. It doesn’t bring back someone whose gone. It doesn’t reverse disappointments or frustrations. But it reminds me that every challenging moment eventually passes when we accept it, sit with it, and then find a reason to move on empowered.
In making that choice, we wade through the pain without allowing ourselves to drown in suffering.
The human spirit is amazingly resilient. If you look back on your life, you can probably identify countless moments when everything felt hopeless–maybe even times when you weren’t sure you could go on. But you did. And despite the pain you felt before, you eventually smiled again. You felt happy, peaceful, and free again.
Today if you feel pain that feels unbearable, ask yourself: what’s the worst that would happen if I accepted this moment, and what’s the best that could happen if I learned from it?
Being Present When Life Falls Apart
Jan 27, 2011 01:06 am | Sonya Derian
by Sonya Derian
“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” ~ Pema Chodron from When Things Fall Apart
Don’t run away from your fear, Pema says. Lean into it. This is her message.
It’s not the most popular or good feeling practice. Our natural tendency is to fight, flee, or freeze. We want to move away from what is uncomfortable. Get rid of it.
But she says quite the contrary. Move toward the places that scare you, that are most uncomfortable for you, and allow them to dissolve, to break apart, to open your heart.
This advice is almost opposite to what is popular in the new age arena. Get happy. Choose a different thought. Practice positive affirmations.
It is difficult.
But what do you do when you got laid off, or you lost a child, or you’re battling a terminal illness, or you don’t know how you’re going to pay your rent? How do you get through those times when you are in the thick of it with fear, dread, or worry?
Choose a different thought? Get happy? Practice positive affirmations?
Pema says no—you don’t do any of this. You lean into it. Let it inform you. Stay present. Experience your humanity. Find compassion in the midst of it.
A friend of mine was going through some challenging times and I recommended one of Pema’s books called When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times.
A while after she got the book and read it, she called me and asked, “Why did you recommend that book? I found it the most depressing read. I couldn’t finish it”.
The teachings can be interpreted that way. Pema talks about embracing impermanence, about abandoning hope.
You can easily say, “Then what’s the point?”
Her point is to experience the present. To be with the now. To let yourself be affected. To grow your capacity to be human. To experience life in all of its expression.
While I found myself wanting to protest, the truth is, what choice did we have? Wherever we go, there we are.
And while we can tell a different story, choose a different thought, or hope for a better future, it doesn’t take away from the moment now, here, where we might be experiencing discomfort with ourselves, our lives or the world around us.
The practice she says is instead of letting it harden us and build walls around our heart to protect against it, let it break you, let it soften, and then let it melt the resistance. See what happens.
Our fear comes from knowing what will happen. We will die. We will not be able to handle the pain or loneliness or loss or uncertainty or the despair. It will kill us.
Or, she says it will open our heart so that we can experience what it is to be genuine. What it is to be human, what it is to experience life truthfully in all its pain, with all its beauty.
Pema calls it the path of the spiritual warrior. It takes courage to be fully awake, she says, because a lot of suffering comes from wanting things to be different. From expecting the “ideal” to overcome the “actual,” or needing people, places, or things to be different for us to be happy.
But what if things don’t change? What if this is all there is? Can we be okay with that?
Don’t let your circumstances or your hope for things to be different rob you of your true present. That’s what I suspect Pema is saying.
Drop down into the still small place. Cultivate bravery. Develop an unconditional friendship with yourself, even when it feels too embarrassing, painful, unpleasant, or hateful.
Don’t let life harden you. There is tenderness, beauty, and grace in being alive.
OK, so it creeps me out how much these daily pieces of wisdom I get coincide with each other. I like to take a minute or two each day and read them and then reflect a little on what wisdom it imparts for me that moment, that day and going forward.
As you all know, I get very frustrated in my current job (I won't call it my career) but yet, I am still here because despite my negativity towards it there are still many positives I can also draw upon to get me through the worst of times, times that mostly come from my own head and my own sense of self-worth or value-add.
In times of frustration, as both the Daily Motivator and Tiny Buddha outline, look for the positives, no matter how small. Ask yourself, as I do each morning, what is one thought or action that I can change/adjust today. Remember: Change only occurs when the pain of changing becomes less than the pain of staying the same.
So today, challenge yourself to change one thing, one outlook, one experience.
Namaste.
From: http://greatday.com
Thursday, January 27, 2011
You'll get through
You'll get through this day, and you'll have more strength, richness and wisdom as a result. You'll get through this month, this year, this life, all while adding to the already-great value that is your existence.
You have what it takes to find your way through, and indeed you will. Though it won't always be easy or comfortable or convenient, you will surely and steadily move forward.
You can choose to let the fears hold you back for a while. Or you can choose to let those fears inform and prepare you, and then move on through them to where you are meant to be.
You can come up with all sorts of creative excuses to avoid making progress. Eventually, though, you'll realize what you're missing and will decide to leave those excuses behind.
Whatever comes along, you'll get through it. At some point you'll learn to stop fighting, to stop struggling, to stop complaining, and allow yourself to successfully handle whatever comes your way.
The worries, the fears, the anxieties and moments of hesitation will all be proven wrong. Because one way or another, you will get through.
-- Ralph Marston
Read more: http://greatday.com/#ixzz1CG0u5QYK
From http://tinybuddha.com
Tiny Wisdom: On Embracing Pain
Jan 27, 2011 01:07 am | Lori Deschene
“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.” -Kenji Miyazawa
On days when I’m feeling overwhelmed by thoughts, feelings, or situations that seem hurtful, I ask myself: what can I take from this moment that will be useful for the ones ahead? What can I learn, address, challenge, change, improve, or simply accept to cause myself less pain going forward?
It doesn’t change that things might feel difficult. It doesn’t bring back someone whose gone. It doesn’t reverse disappointments or frustrations. But it reminds me that every challenging moment eventually passes when we accept it, sit with it, and then find a reason to move on empowered.
In making that choice, we wade through the pain without allowing ourselves to drown in suffering.
The human spirit is amazingly resilient. If you look back on your life, you can probably identify countless moments when everything felt hopeless–maybe even times when you weren’t sure you could go on. But you did. And despite the pain you felt before, you eventually smiled again. You felt happy, peaceful, and free again.
Today if you feel pain that feels unbearable, ask yourself: what’s the worst that would happen if I accepted this moment, and what’s the best that could happen if I learned from it?
Being Present When Life Falls Apart
Jan 27, 2011 01:06 am | Sonya Derian
by Sonya Derian
“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” ~ Pema Chodron from When Things Fall Apart
Don’t run away from your fear, Pema says. Lean into it. This is her message.
It’s not the most popular or good feeling practice. Our natural tendency is to fight, flee, or freeze. We want to move away from what is uncomfortable. Get rid of it.
But she says quite the contrary. Move toward the places that scare you, that are most uncomfortable for you, and allow them to dissolve, to break apart, to open your heart.
This advice is almost opposite to what is popular in the new age arena. Get happy. Choose a different thought. Practice positive affirmations.
It is difficult.
But what do you do when you got laid off, or you lost a child, or you’re battling a terminal illness, or you don’t know how you’re going to pay your rent? How do you get through those times when you are in the thick of it with fear, dread, or worry?
Choose a different thought? Get happy? Practice positive affirmations?
Pema says no—you don’t do any of this. You lean into it. Let it inform you. Stay present. Experience your humanity. Find compassion in the midst of it.
A friend of mine was going through some challenging times and I recommended one of Pema’s books called When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times.
A while after she got the book and read it, she called me and asked, “Why did you recommend that book? I found it the most depressing read. I couldn’t finish it”.
The teachings can be interpreted that way. Pema talks about embracing impermanence, about abandoning hope.
You can easily say, “Then what’s the point?”
Her point is to experience the present. To be with the now. To let yourself be affected. To grow your capacity to be human. To experience life in all of its expression.
While I found myself wanting to protest, the truth is, what choice did we have? Wherever we go, there we are.
And while we can tell a different story, choose a different thought, or hope for a better future, it doesn’t take away from the moment now, here, where we might be experiencing discomfort with ourselves, our lives or the world around us.
The practice she says is instead of letting it harden us and build walls around our heart to protect against it, let it break you, let it soften, and then let it melt the resistance. See what happens.
Our fear comes from knowing what will happen. We will die. We will not be able to handle the pain or loneliness or loss or uncertainty or the despair. It will kill us.
Or, she says it will open our heart so that we can experience what it is to be genuine. What it is to be human, what it is to experience life truthfully in all its pain, with all its beauty.
Pema calls it the path of the spiritual warrior. It takes courage to be fully awake, she says, because a lot of suffering comes from wanting things to be different. From expecting the “ideal” to overcome the “actual,” or needing people, places, or things to be different for us to be happy.
But what if things don’t change? What if this is all there is? Can we be okay with that?
Don’t let your circumstances or your hope for things to be different rob you of your true present. That’s what I suspect Pema is saying.
Drop down into the still small place. Cultivate bravery. Develop an unconditional friendship with yourself, even when it feels too embarrassing, painful, unpleasant, or hateful.
Don’t let life harden you. There is tenderness, beauty, and grace in being alive.
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