Journal
Insights for April 2015
Peony. Margaret Gervais
Awakening:
"Growing evidence suggests that interstellar space was also where atoms united to make some molecules pertinent for life. A study published last fall in Science, for example, used computer simulations to establish the provenance of Earth’s water. Its surprising verdict: Up to half the water on our planet is older than the solar system itself. Ancient water molecules assembled in the chilly confines of a gigantic gas cloud. That cloud spawned our sun and the planets that orbit it — and somehow those ancient water molecules survived the perils of the planetary birth process to end up in our oceans and, presumably, our bodies." http://www.nytimes.com/…/opin…/sunday/our-cosmic-selves.html
“Right now, there is always and only freedom and peace. The question is: Is that what you really want?” Adyashanti
"Though energy is a controlling faculty of insight, more effort does not equal more insight. It's easy to try too hard and to rigorously apply skillful techniques, but insight is better supported by a gentle perseverance in continually showing up for the present moment." Steve Armstrong, "Got Attitude?" Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
“All that is necessary to awaken to yourself as the radiant emptiness of spirit is to stop seeking something more or better or different, and to turn your attention inward to the awake silence that you are.” Adyashanti
"I’ve lived at a Zen Buddhist monastery for nearly a decade, and here’s what I’ve learned to have faith in: outside of me, there is a perfect home for everything inside of me. And inside of me, there is a perfect home for everything outside of me. Just let it go, and let it in. In and out, like the breath. After all, outside has nowhere to go but in, and inside has nowhere to go but out. My job, our job, is to broker the exchange between the two, to manifest the interpenetration of inside and outside, of self and other. That’s all. I dissolve in activity, in relationship with my surroundings, so that the inner world can flow out, and the outer world can arrive within. I have to both put in effort and know when to let go. There’s a natural balance, a dance, between embracing and releasing: turning your surroundings into yourself, like the tree that absorbs carbon dioxide, and turning yourself into your surroundings, like the same tree releasing oxygen. This is what Buddhists call the Middle Way." Shozan Jack Haubner, "Consider the Seed", Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
"We are never more than a breath away from the home we share with the entire universe." Shozan Jack Haubner, "Consider the Seed", Tricycle: The Buddhist ReviewThis is an incredible piece of work. A short film sharing the wisdom of Marion Woodman. I felt this was consciousness changing to watch. http://www.cultureunplugged.com/…/7972/Dancing-in-the-Flames
“Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.” Eckhart Tolle This is a great article on cultivating compassion - starting with self love practice: http://www.tricycle.com/practice/cultivating-compassion
“Fundamentally, there is no problem in life, because everything that happens in actually part of the human journey and human awakening, and all of it is leading us deeper and deeper into reality. Reginald A. Ray, Ph.D., from Darkness Before Dawn: Redefining the Journey Through Depression, edited by Tami Simon. Reprinted with permission of Sounds True.
Meditation:“True Meditation has no direction or goal. It is pure wordless surrender, pure silent prayer. All methods aiming at achieving a certain state of mind are limited, impermanent, and conditioned. Fascination with states leads only to bondage and dependency. True mediation is abidance as primordial awareness.” Adyashanti
Relationships:
"Compassion simply stated is leaving other people alone. You don’t lay trips. You exist as a statement of your own level of evolution."
"Some of the beings around you every day are very ancient beings, and some are very new. But is it better or worse? It’s just different. Is it better to be twenty years old than fifty? It’s just different. So why do you judge someone because he’s not as conscious as you are? Do you judge a pre-pubescent because he or she is not sexually aware? You understand. You have compassion. Compassion simply stated is leaving other people alone. You don’t lay trips. You exist as a statement of your own level of evolution. You are available to any human being, to provide what they need, to the extent that they ask. But you begin to see that it is a fallacy to think that you can impose a trip on another person." Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember
Astrology:
I love this image of the life cycle of plants. I talk to my clients about it all the time in relationship to the progressed moon cycle in their astrology charts. The progressed moon phase that you are in greatly impacts your life - and relating it to the life cycle of plants helps people understanding where they are in this very natural cycle of life! Thanks to Jason's Indoor Guide to Organic and Hydrophonics Gardening for this image. http://www.jasons-indoor-guide-to-organic-and-hydroponics-g…An image of the phases of the moon. Which phase were you born into and which phase are you in now?http://www.drstandley.com/images/astrology/waxing.gif
Grief:
"This body is not me; I am not caught in this body, I am life without boundaries, I have never been born and I have never died. Over there, the wide ocean and the sky with many galaxies all manifest from the basis of consciousness. Since beginning less time I have always been free. Birth and death are only a door through which we go in and out. Birth and death are only a game of hide and seek." Thich Nhat Hanh "On the Path With Thay," Allan Badiner, Tricycle Spring 2015.
"The Grief Path" is a beautiful story and this video shows her work to chart and paint her grief. I would love to do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XilHRThzC8Great advise. Think about death everyday to be happy. http://www.bbc.com/…/20150408-bhutans-dark-secret-to-happin…
Depression: Insights on depression: http://www.lionsroar.com/offer-your-depression/
Parenting: Parenting with Presence. http://newworldlibrary.com/…/tabid/64/SKU/83260/Default.aspx#
Marriage:Five Awarenesses from Thich Nhat Hanh, as wedding vows:"We are aware that all generations of our ancestors and all future generations are present within us.We are aware of the expectations that our ancestors, and our children, and their children have of us.We are aware that our joy, peace, freedom and harmony are the joy, peace, freedom and harmony of our ancestors, our children and their children.We are aware that understanding is the very foundation of love.We are aware that blaming and arguing can never help us and only create a wider gap between us; that only understanding, trust and love can help us change and grow." Thich Nhat Hanh"On the Path With Thay," Allan Badiner, Tricycle Spring 2015.
Parenting
Onion flower and ladybug Margaret Gervais
"You have to realize that your children are not containers you put things into. They are flowers that are emerging, and if you till the soil and keep it soft and fertilized, it’s amazing what comes up; because inherent in all of us is deep wisdom, which gets lost in the shuffle of socialization.So the question is, are you just an instrument of socialization as a parent, or are you somebody that respects the inner beauty of that person, that lets the child’s intuitive understanding of things lead, rather than leading out of ought or should or must or so on. A person learns a skill much faster when they want to learn a skill than when somebody else wants them to learn a skill. It’s pretty clear. So to that extent, you and your child are collaborative beings..." Ram Dass, Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember
Parenting with Presence. http://newworldlibrary.com/…/tabid/64/SKU/83260/Default.aspx#
Being aware of these five attributes is important for parenting, to help raise emotionally intelligent children! Five attributes of emotional intelligence:
Self awareness
Self regulation
Motivation
Empathy
Social Skills. http://www.elephantjournal.com/…/5-attributes-of-emotional…/
(And of course it helps to be an emotionally intelligent person yourself; as children learn by observing their role models.)