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I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.
Martha Washington
US wife of George Washington 1759 (1732 – 1802)
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Our attitude and effort is what we control. It allows us to choose where we place our attention, our life.
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Posts Tagged ‘PTSD’
21 May
Happiness and Misery and Disposition????????
21 May
The only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions. ~Ellen Glasgow
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Perspective, the ability to observe from a small distance away, allows emotionally charged thought to fade away.
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We sit quietly, focusing on the breath, becoming the breath at times, to calm and steady the mind.
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Thoughts fade when our focus brings clear awareness of now.
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Practice, improve, heal and find opportunity, today.
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So mundane a practice, its power subtle at first, awesome in time.
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20 May
We all lose focus and discover our minds racing on auto-pilot!!!!!!!
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Breath is the bridge that connects life to consciousness, the bridge that unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again
Thich Nhat Hahn
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My mind has been racing lately from stress, life’s harsh consequences, physical pain, exhaustion and fear.
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Why was admitting I was afraid so hard for me to write just now. My ego wants to believe I am impervious to things like this since I meditate.
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Life is a challenge each moment for all of us. We never arrive or reach a magical, mystical goal or destination.
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life is that journey on a winding river, not a place where accomplishments and possessions helps us cross some imaginary goal line.
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Life is this moment, I am starkly reminded in my muddy mind of late.
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We have our weak moments that the ego exploits, our cognitive side floods us with emotional thought of fearful, negative content. It is always about the past and how it impacts now and the future.
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This is an obvious pattern for all of us from time to time. We lose centeredness and grasp at the rope of thought and fear.
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As always, we return to our focus to stabilize and clear the mind.
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Positive is Teflon, needing twice the volume of time in our consciousness to balance or limit the negative. Velcro.
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18 May
Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special !!!!!!!!!!!
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Awareness is our true self; it’s who we are. So we don’t have to try to develop awareness; we simply need to notice how we block awareness out with our thoughts, fantasies, opinions and our judgments. We’re either in awareness, which is our natural state, or we’re doing something else.
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Be aware which is our natural state to find healing, happiness, life.
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We have done something else our whole lives, time to change, become aware, now.
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The focus on the breath brings us awareness, calm, peace of mind.
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18 May
Has Mara visited you today? September 22, 2012 by Shaila Catherine:
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There is a mythical figure in the Buddhist teachings named Mara. He arrives on the scene in many disguises and disrupts a meditator’s concentration, interferes with the clarity of insight, or tries to seduce the practitioner into wrongful acts. We might see Mara as the personification of hindrances, unskillful impulses, self-doubt, self-destructive habits, and any manifestation of desire, aversion, or ignorance.
Has Mara visited you today?
Perhaps when craving takes hold of the mind and drags you toward the refrigerator, or when anger compels your tongue to shout, or when fear inhibits your ability to make a critical life decision, you might recognize that Mara has found an opportunity. You do not need to be controlled by the forces of Mara. You have some choice.
The next time that you find yourself caught up in a reaction of desire or aversion, you might say “I see you Mara” and take a moment to recognize the desire or see the aversion. Identify them as obstructive forces. By bringing mindfulness to the hindrances throughout the day we gradually weaken these conditioned forces of mind. Mara only thrives in darkness; whenever he is exposed, he vanishes. The light of mindfulness is stronger than obstructive forces. When mindfulness meets obstructions, they weaken, and eventually vanish.
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Shaila has sat in silent retreat an accumulative seven years.
17 May
Where do we have choices in life
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We decide the majority of our life internally and carry this attitude through all the external stimulus we incur.
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For instance, misery, suffering, happiness, sorrow, gratitude, loss, acceptance, awareness and dissociation are under our control.
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I never realized the last statement until I practiced mindfulness, daily.
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I thought I was stuck with horrible days when I woke up in a bad mood.
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We can let whatever mood we wake to, go. Yes, we can release anything and be happy and excited about the day to come.
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It is all we have.
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17 May
We are the inventor!!!
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Man is the artificer of his own happiness.
Henry David Thoreau, Journal, January 21, 1838
US Transcendentalist author (1817 – 1862)
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Way back in 1838 happiness followed the same rules, stay present, live now and be happy.
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Let go of thought if you want to be the artificer of happiness in life.
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Reach out and find the joy beneath the surface of now.
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17 May
Wasting life and time is what PTSD does to us.
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The present moment, the only moment we have to feel or to think, is a hidden dimension for most of us. We are so absorbed with planning for the future or blaming people for what is over and done with that we lose the lives we are living. We die a thousand deaths wasting our energy on what was or what will be. We need to wake up a little more and liberate ourselves from our self-destructive habits — greed, hatred, racism and selfishness. There is no reason to starve for well-being.
Jon Kabat Zinn
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Time and again the answer is in this moment with dissociation a waste of time and life.
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Be here without doubt or worry dominating our consciousness.
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Will you practice and heal or just read?
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16 May
Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor. Benjamin Franklin!!
. Vladimir Kush Paintings:
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Discontent bubbles up from the ego, a true meditator accepts life as it is without discontent.
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Content may be numerous things, awareness of this moment, acceptance of life as it is, or maybe a calm that we are exactly where we need to be.
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Search no more externally, focus internally and become familiar with the perfect you, true self.
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It is so present moment it has no concept of past or future.
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Happiness abounds in this space.
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Real life opens up with opportunity, intrigue and excitement.
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Practice and unleash the power of mindfulness on life, on thoughts, on fear, on panic, on running away and especially on feeling inferior.
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Life changes when we stay present, trauma integrates and heals as we observe fear without grasping.
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Rejoice and know the power of healing is only a breath away, literally!!!!!!!!!
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16 May
Let go of worry:…. Yes it is a choice!!!!!!!L
. Vladimir Kush Paintings:
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Whatever assumptions you have about yourself, no matter how reasonable they might be, they are still a creation in the present. By believing in them, by thinking and holding to them, you’re continually creating yourself as a personality. Awakeness is not a creation
Ajahn Sumedh.
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Quit worrying about oneself and live freely.
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Let concern about oneself fade, opening up the world, healing and bringing happiness to life.
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Let go, surrender to fear, the story, the panic and the desire to escape.
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Healing is right in front of you, inside you not externally located.
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