More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
It’s not time that we lack in our rushed lives, but focus. The more we slow down our speedy, obsessive thought process and sustain mindful awareness, the better listeners and friends, mates and coworkers we become, and the more clarity, serenity, centeredness, and direct immediacy of experience we discover within ourselves.
We have more time to evaluate and respond intelligently to things rather than just blindly reacting.
we suffer because of our denial of and resistance to time’s flow, and our clinging to illusions of fixity and security.
Native American prayer from the Ojibwa that goes: “O Grandfather, Sacred One, teach us love, compassion, and honor, that we may heal the earth and heal each other.”
We can call upon drala as an ally, as a way to reach beyond ourselves, when we need to take refuge from confusion and distress and find respite from the storm and stress of daily life. It is a way of accessing the invisible, the formless, the subtler dimensions of energy and reality.
As adults we look at the ocean’s waves, listen to a waterfall, or stare at a candle flame, a fire in the hearth, or a bonfire. The natural elemental energy of water and fire transports us far beyond our limited selves.
Reunion with the natural state is the meaning of the word yoga (whose literal meaning is “union with god” and which is derived from the Sanskrit word meaning “yoke”).
go outdoors and find a quiet place to experience that moment of grace. It is a choice to go through life with a cell phone in your hand. Disconnect yourself from the wondrous gifts of our technology often enough to remember that natural wonders have always existed and have always brought solace.
And we can experience the present moment wherever we are, whenever we choose, just by becoming precisely focused on the breath or on any other equally vibrant, ever-available object of attention.
Noble Silence (as this practice is known in Buddhism) into your life. Even amid the most hectic modern lifestyles, true serenity can be found by silently reconnecting with a tree or flower, a pet, a mountain or valley, or some other element of nature that leads to an aesthetic appreciation of our environs, the moment, and ultimately a larger, deeper reality.
There is a simple practice I do every day whenever I can, which I call WOW: Wishing Others Well. Whomever and whatever I meet—person or animal, male or female, old or young, human or otherwise—I wish them well. Make this your mission and delight from moment to moment.
May you be happy and peaceful, safe and blissful, content and fulfilled, and always keep growing and glowing. May you have all that you need and long for. May your noble dreams come true for you. May love flourish and blossom in your life.
We are constantly selfing or cocreating each other and ourselves as we think we need to be in an effort to confirm our own existence and find security in a world that is inherently insecure and impermanent.
We are, rather, a constellation of energies and forces held together by our egos and our will to survive, fed by an illusion of separateness.
Think of yourself as a cell in the great body of all human beings, and by extension of all beings everywhere, with whom you are inextricably connected.
When we don’t recognize this inherent connection, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, unable to get each day’s tasks done in the space of just one day.
To aspire toward glimpsing this Great Perfection, we need to stop projecting what appears in our own minds onto the outside world and instead allow ourselves to settle and just be.
If you can manage this even when you’re not in formal meditation, the barrier between yourself and others will evaporate, revealing empathy, love, compassion, and understanding. In this free and open state, you will be able to fill your life with the positive actions that will deliver happiness to you. Neither perfectionist nor ascetic, you will ease into the Middle Way.
Break yourself out of the trance by doing one physical task with focused attention, wholly and completely, while letting go of absolutely everything
The better you get at it, the more you will understand one of the secrets to living in Buddha Standard Time: It’s not time that we lack, but focus.
is verse 8, in which Jesus said, “The Man is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea. He drew it up from the deep full of small fishes. Among them he found a big, marvelous fish. That wise fisherman, he threw all the smaller fishes back into the sea. He chose the big fish without hesitation. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.” The little fish are our momentary desires, ambitions, and goals: fortune, fame, pleasure, comfort, and other fleeting experiences. None of these can last. Yet we cling to them as if they will endure forever. The big fish is finding our eternal dream. Too
...more
Take a breath, and set the proper priorities that will enable you to get things done calmly. Assess the demands on you, and consider which ones are most important. Learn to say to yourself, “That can wait.”
And scientists say that without real downtime, we are not able to solidify our experiences into full-fledged memories.
Carl Jung said that the first half of our lives is spent developing an egoic self, and proposed that the second half be devoted to transcending it.
How much of our cultural addiction to sex, television, the Internet, and other transient outlets for novelty and entertainment, for example, comes from loneliness and a lack of the powerful, active, attentive awareness-wisdom energy of the Divine Mother? As the Dalai Lama reminds us, “Everywhere we are constantly talking about peace for humanity. A peaceful world. But this is not from prayer, not from technology, not from money, not from religion, but from Mother.” A
Concentration brings your attention to a pinpoint focus, and mindfulness leads you deeper into the fabric and texture of temporal reality.
The practice of mindful meditation is how we increase our ability to learn self-control and mental discipline, transform our attitude, and shift toward being more responsive, thoughtful, intentional, and aware.
As J. Krishnamurti, the great spiritual educator, has observed: “Meditation is the ending of thought. It is only then that there is a different dimension that is beyond time.”
Buddha taught that Patient Forbearance is the antidote to anger and violence, and that no one can make us angry if we don’t have seeds of anger in our own heart.
Patience is truly the virtue to cultivate for making peace with time and change.
Timeless wisdom tells us that it is not what happens to us but how we respond that determines our character and our destiny.
It’s been theorized that cognition narrows through making haste, and also that as the speed of life increases, ethics become a luxury.
Think about the absence of energy, for example, when you become aware that the person you’re speaking to on the phone is not paying attention because he or she is multitasking (as so many of us do in our busy days). You feel their energy fade away and their focus move elsewhere. It is palpable even before you hear the clicking of a keyboard.
My classes
The corpus callosum, the main “bridge” that links the left and right hemispheres, which as we’ve seen can be strengthened through meditation, is naturally thicker in females than in males.
Blissful radiant inner awareness through tummo, a mystic–inner heat practice, has been documented by scientific researchers and found to suffuse the entire organism—on many levels, not only the physical.
but I have trained myself to notice what I see.”
classic state of bardo, a Tibetan word meaning an in-between state, as between death and rebirth, or between one thought and another.
1. RIGHT VIEW: seeing things clearly just as they are 2. RIGHT INTENTIONS: understanding causation, cause and effect, and interconnectedness, impermanence, subjectivity, and unselfishness 3. RIGHT SPEECH: using words that are true, appropriate to the situation, kind, helpful, nonviolent, and conducive to the greater good 4. RIGHT ACTION: acts congruent with the basic Buddhist precepts regarding cherishing life and refraining from lying, stealing, sexual misconduct, and intoxicants that cause heedlessness 5. RIGHT LIVELIHOOD: engaging in honest, productive labor that harms no
...more
Perhaps one day the contemplative arts will transform enough of us that society as a whole will feel more deliberate, calm, and peaceful.
every stroke of work accomplished in awareness and in the spirit of joyful service is building a better world. This is our real work.
He who befriends himself is befriended by the whole world.
Our pets instruct us daily, without words or lesson plans, in the meaning of the golden eternity, here and now.
We often live most present and accounted for when we are pushed to our edge. Our senses become heightened because of deadlines or danger, or because we have become so deeply absorbed in a project that we lose all track of time.
An individual with presence controls his or her destiny, always, even unto death.
A student of the Zen arts will practice over and over until the preoccupied and distracted self gets out of the way and pure essence begins to flow in free, spontaneous expression. This kind
By slowing down, being more mindful, and cultivating the art of silence, we can learn to use time wisely and anchor and ground ourselves in each moment. By lightening our selves, we open up to ever-expanding horizons of awareness and can learn to make space for realization and transformative insight at deeper and deeper levels.
The good deeds you do for others are often reciprocated. As long as both parties don’t take unfair advantage, the unspoken quid pro quo works. The problem arises when there is an imbalance between parties or someone thinks you “owe them one.” When the giving becomes one-sided, it is incumbent on us to remedy the situation.
In the case of someone who is argumentative, aggressive, or dependent, avoid disagreeable discussions that further drain your energy. Simply withdraw to an inaccessible high ground or keep a safe physical and/or emotional distance. Say yes to your Self by gently saying no to unreasonable demands and expectations.
“leakage” is one of the translations for the word that is usually translated as “defilement”—a key concept encompassing greed, hatred, delusion, pride, and jealousy. Buddha himself diagnosed these as “the five basic poisons” that destroy our harmony, peace, integrity, and well-being.
Master the lost art of waiting, and you will make friends with time and grow less bored, irritated, or annoyed.
