Mittwoch, 29. September 2010

Gratitude

May all beings enjoy gratitude and the source of gratitude

Dienstag, 28. September 2010

With attentiveness

The more I define, the more I limit. May it be with attentiveness and love.

DI

Be an island

"We need the reflection of our own being in others in order to see ourselves clearly. When there is disharmony with another person, it is a mirror image of ourselves. There can be no disharmony with others if we feel harmonious within ourselves. A mirror image does not lie."

Ayya Khema, Be An Island

Sonntag, 26. September 2010

Their presence

"In the depth of the night,
as in the immeasurable realm of consciousness,
the garden of life and I
remain each other's objects.
The flower of being is singing the song of emptiness.

The night is still immaculate,
but sounds and images from you
have returned and fill the pure night.
I feel their presence.
By the window, with my bare feet on the cool floor,
I know I am here
for you to be."


(Excerpt from a poem published in "Call Me By My True Names" The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh)

Windows or walls

Words Are Windows (Or They’re Walls)
Poem by Ruth Bebermayer

~~~~~~~~~

I feel so sentenced by your words
I feel so judged and sent away
Before I go I got to know
Is that what you mean to say?
Before I rise to my defense,
Before I speak in hurt or fear,
Before I build that wall of words,
Tell me, did I really hear?
Words are windows, or they’re walls,
They sentence us, or set us free.
When I speak and when I hear,
Let the love light shine through me.
There are things I need to say,
Things that mean so much to me,
If my words don’t make me clear,
Will you help me to be free?
If I seemed to put you down,
If you felt I didn’t care,
Try to listen to my words
To the feelings that we share.


(from the book Nonviolent Communication – A Language of Life)

Shared humaneness

Our shared humaneness is a sacred path.

Thank you love

di

Donnerstag, 23. September 2010

Moment by moment

'Overcoming the alzheimer's negativity bias' by Marguerite Manteau-Rao

http://huff.to/aTkiEJ

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

is there a general disease we could call hyperactivity of defining and labeling? and do we lose meanings in the progression?

perpaps what we call disease, sickness, illness is nothing but the way of nature to balance. i mean surely many of us have heard that so called blind people (or others who lack one sense) have their other senses better developed in return. but are we interested in what their amplified sensory perception tells them about life, about us? or is it much more so that we have learned to define people by what they seemingly lack and then we stay with that definition, because ít´s more comfortable?

my work with people who have dementia has lead me to the opinion that they do not lose something most important, but rather they regain something very important, namely the ability to feel deeply. as far as i can see they develop a fine sense whether other people (e.g. we who are with them) are real, authentic. and they also develop something we all were capable to as children: the unwillingness to be not real, to be not authentic...honest. btw, yes, they work with me, too, maybe more than the other way around. only i get the money.

di

Dienstag, 21. September 2010

Courage of heart

The courage of the heart is non-violent and most effective.

DI

Greeting the day

Opened my arms to greet the new day.

DI

Green matter



Sonntag, 19. September 2010

Capacity of waking up

"Suppose you are expecting a child. You need to breathe and smile for him or her. Please don't wait until your baby is born before beginning to take care of him or her. You can take care of your baby right now, or even sooner. If you cannot smile, that is very serious. You might think, "I am too sad. Smiling is not the correct thing to do." Maybe crying or shouting would be correct, but your baby will get it--anything you are, anything you do, is for your baby."

"Even if you do not have a baby in your womb, the seed is already there. Even if you are not married, even if you are a man, you should be aware that a baby is already there, the seeds of future generations are already there. Please don't wait until the doctors tell you that you are going to have a baby to begin to take care of it. It is already there. Whatever you are, whatever you do, your baby will get it. Anything you eat, any worries that are on your mind will be for him or her. Can you tell me that you cannot smile? Think of the baby, and smile for him, for her, for the future generations. Please don't tell me that a smile and your sorrow just don't go together. Its your sorrow, but what about your baby? It's not his sorrow, its not her sorrow."

"Children understand very well that in each woman, in each man, there is a capacity of waking up, of understanding, and of loving. Many children have told me that they cannot show me anyone who does not have this capacity. Some people allow it to develop and some do not, but everyone has it. This capacity of waking up, of being aware of what is going on in your feelings, in your body, in your perceptions, in the world, is called Buddha nature, the capacity of understanding and loving. Since the baby of that Buddha is in us, we should give him or her a chance. Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace."

Thich Nhat Hanh

Freitag, 17. September 2010

Maintain warmth

Let us maintain our warmth in situations with ourselves, and with others.

DI

Montag, 13. September 2010

Coherencies

"Today, however, as we live and work in a world of far greater complexity, where the apparently simple acts of buying and selling have repercussions on people's lives around the world, the ethics of right livelihood must be accordingly reevaluated. The implications of even driving a car or drinking a cup of coffee have social, environmental, and economic consequences far beyond the limits of our immediate experience, which we are morally obligated to take into account. From this perspective, inner spiritual transformation is just as dependent upon the effect of our economic life upon the world as transformations in the world are dependent upon spiritual re-orientation."

Stephen Batchelor

Sonntag, 12. September 2010

Confidence

May we estimate the confidence. It is an active, positive force.

DI

Giraffe


Freitag, 10. September 2010

We feed the world - a film

In WE FEED THE WORLD, Austrian filmmaker Erwin Wagenhofer traces the origins of the food we eat. His journey takes him to France, Spain, Romania, Switzerland, Brazil and back to Austria.

http://www.we-feed-the-world.at/en/film.htm



Dienstag, 7. September 2010

Inquiring

"Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear. So violence isn't merely organized butchery in the name of God, in the name of society or country. Violence is much more subtle, much deeper, and we are inquiring into the very depths of violence."

"It is important to understand, not intellectually but actually in your daily life, how you have built images about your wife, your husband, your neighbor, your child, your country, your leaders, your politicians, your gods; you have nothing but images. The images create the space between you and what you observe and in that space there is conflict, so what we are going to find out now together is whether it is possible to be free of the space we create, not only outside ourselves but in ourselves, the space which divides people in all their relationships..."

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Learning

"I'm interested in learning that's motivated by reverence for life, that's motivated by a desire to learn skills, to learn new things that help us to better contribute to our own well-being and the well-being of others. And what fills me with great sadness is any learning that I see motivated by coercion."

"Everything we do is in service of our needs. When this one concept is applied to our view of others, we'll see that we have no real enemies, that what others do to us is the best possible thing they know to do to get their needs met."

Marshall B. Rosenberg

Montag, 6. September 2010

Something sacred

"The word "silly" derives from the Greek "selig" meaning "blessed." There is something sacred in being able to be silly."

Paul Pearsall

Samstag, 4. September 2010

Acceptance

"Through acceptance we experience less of a struggle to change things that we can't change as well as respond mindfully to the things we can change."

( Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, core attitude, one of seven )

Donnerstag, 2. September 2010

Sounds & meanings

"Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning."

Maya Angelou

Different

What I read, it is different from what was written.

DI

On butterfly wings