Awareness

Don't look back in anger.

Don't look ahead in fear.

Look around in awareness.


I am not sure who said this quote first, but I recently heard it and realized that is very fitting for me. I have spent many of my days looking at what has been or happened in anger. My fear of not having control of what is going to happen in the future is overwhelming at times. Really I need to stop and be still. Be aware of where I am now. In this moment, how do I feel? What is important in this moment? What is going to have the most positive effect on me at this time? What can I do to soak in all that is in this moment.

I am aware that I need to strive to be more aware.

Is this what I am trying to practice?

Renunciation

If you want to play a little bit with a renunciation practice, pick some desire that you encounter every day. You decide which one: the desire to eat something or other, the desire for a cigarette, whatever it is you want to play with. Pick something that you usually give in to every day - like, let's say, a cup of coffee in the morning - and for one day, don't do it. Then the next day, do it much more than you usually would - have two cups of coffee. Start to study your reactions. Notice the difference in your feelings toward the desire on the first day and on the second day.
Maybe another time you'll want to take two desires to work with: one day don't satisfy one and doubly satisfy the other, and then flip them around. Try to be very attentive to what's going through your mind about it. If you're keeping a journal, write about it in your journal. Start to relate to your desires as something you can scrutinize rather than as things that totally suck you in all the time, things that consume you. Get into a friendly relationship with your desires. Play with them, instead of being driven by them all the time. Desires get to be fun, really, once we're observing them instead of mechanically reacting to them.
The whole game of renunciation and purification is an experiment - an experiment in how quickly we can extricate ourselves from being attached to our desire systems. Notice that it isn't a question of getting rid of desires - that's a misunderstanding. Trust me, the desires will stay around! We're just loosening their hold on us, getting clear enough of them so we can see them in some sort of context.

from 'Paths to God: Living The Bhagavad Gita' by Ram Dass

2" x 4"

Okay, God, you can stop using the 2"x4" for a few days.

I get it - you've got a plan.

Funny guy you are.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

This is as close as I can get to a resolution for the new year. I heard this at a wedding this weekend and it struck a cord. I think it is words I strive to live by.

Desiderata

-- written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.