Monday Reflection: The Paradox of Our Age

We have bigger houses but smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time;
We have more degrees, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgement;
more experts, but more problems;
more medicines, but less healthiness;

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back,
but have trouble crossing the street to meet
our new neighbor.

We built more computers to hold more information
to produce more copies than ever,
but have less communication;
We have become long on quantity,
but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods
but slow digestion;
Tall man but short character;
Steep profits but shallow relationships.

It’s a time when there is much in the window,
but nothing in the room.

-H.H. The XIV Dalai Lama

Monday Reflection: Going Far

To see far is one thing,
going there is another.

-Constantin Brancusi

Monday Reflection: Loving Kindness

The following is one of my favorite mantras. It is calming, brings you to your center, and simply feels good when said aloud or silently.

May I be filled with loving kindess.
May I be well.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
May I be happy.

Begin by saying the phrases directed to yourself. Begin with yourself because without loving yourself, it is almost impossible to love others.

Then, expand the mantra as follows by directing it to others:

May you be filled with loving kindess.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy.

May we be filled with loving kindess.
May we be well.
May we be peaceful and at ease.
May we be happy.

Monday Reflection: Peace

Strangely enough,
even though all beings would like to live in peace,
our method for obtaining peace over the generations
seems not to be very effective:
we seek peace and happiness by going to war.
Maybe we come home from work and we’re tired
and we just want some peace;
but at home all hell is breaking loose for one reason or another,
and so we start yelling at people.

War begins when we harden our hearts,
and we harden them easily whenever we feel uncomfortable.
It’s so sad, really,
because our motivation in hardening our hearts
is to find some kind of ease,
some kind of freedom from the distress that we’re feeling.
We can do everything in our power,
but war is never going to end
as long as our hearts are hardened against each other.

-Pema Chodron

Monday Reflection: We Just Don’t Know

When we think that something is going to bring us pleasure,
we don’t know what’s really going to happen.
When we think something is going to give us misery, we don’t know.
Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all.
We try to do what we think is going to help. But we don’t know.
We never know if we’re going to fall flat or sit up tall.
When there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story.
It may be just the beginning of a great adventure.
Life is like that.
We don’t know anything.
We call something bad; we call it good.
But really we just don’t know.

-Pema Chodron

Monday Reflection: Trust and Grace

The trust that others place in you is your grace.

-yogi tea

Monday Reflection: Understanding & Compassion

We can bring a heart of understanding and compassion
to a world that needs it so much.

-Jack Kornfield

Monday Reflection: Listen to the Words

Learning itself is an art.

When we listen with a still and concentrated mind,
it’s possible to actually be responsive to what the words are saying.
Sometimes deep insights come in a flash, unexpectedly.

-Joseph Goldstein

Monday Reflection: Open Up To Life

WHEN YOU OPEN UP TO LIFE AS IT IS

When you open yourself to the continually changing,
impermanent, dying nature of your own being and of reality,
you increase your capacity to love and care about other people
and your capacity to not be afraid.
You’re able to keep your eyes open, your heart open, and your mind open.
And you notice when you get caught up in prejudice, bias, and aggression.
You develop an enthusiasm for no longer watering those negative seeds,
from now until the day you die.
And you begin to think of your life as offering endless opportunities
to start doing things differently.

-Pema Chodron
excerpt from “The Pocket Pema Chodron”

Monday Reflection: Begin The Journey

It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work,
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.

~Wendell Berry