I can’t get enough of 30 day blog challenges.Blogtoberfest one year ago was my first, done during what was only my second month of blogging, and it solidified my practice like nothing else could have.
NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) is another of my favorites, and with a tagline like “Type Your Heart Out,” and a theme of “blogging for blogging’s sake,” I can’t resist.
Today’s prompt is hard for me to answer: “Tell us your favourite quotation and why.” I love quotes, I collect them the same way I do seashells and rocks, some of them I practically memorize having read them so many times. Favorite lines will pop into my head like magic, like medicine, just when I need them most. I love how the right quote takes the truth of your heart, the thing you know deep in your gut but can’t seem to express in words, and manifests it exactly, fully formed and clearly communicated, as if somehow the author were inside your head, had heard your thoughts and felt your feelings, and you read it and say “yes, that’s it, me too, amen.” But there are so many, each one beloved and adored, how can I pick just one?
And yet, there is a favorite. When I really thought about it, let myself get quiet and still, it was clear, there is just one, my favorite.
We already have everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds—never touch our basic wealth. They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake. ~Pema Chödrön
I feel like my whole life philosophy, the heart of every practice, my deepest wishes are held, communicated by these words. And sometimes when I read this quote, the last lines make me cry: “But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.” I don’t want to simply memorize these words, I want to become them, embody them.
I’m curious, kind and gentle reader, what’s your favorite quote? Leave it for me in the comments. I’d love some new ones for my collection.
In this life, with its impermanence and unpredictability and difficult-things-happening, we need all the help we can get. We need to develop habits that steady us, that provide us with nourishment, that remind us of the beauty around us even in the midst of chaos & loss.
And she also shared this:
Since my house burned down
I now own a better view
of the rising moon.
~ Mizuta Masahide, poet and samurai (1657-1723)
4. From Alex Franzen of Unicorns for Socialism: “If I were you, I’d jot down a series of stories I’ve been aching to tell. True stories that happened to me. Nobody else.”
5. A three step practice from Pema Chödrön:
First, come into the present. Flash on what’s happening with you right now. Be fully aware of your body, its energetic quality. Be aware of your thoughts and emotions.
Next, feel your heart, literally placing your hand on your chest if you find that helpful. This is a way of accepting yourself just as you are in that moment, a way of saying, “This is my experience right now, and it’s okay.”
Then go into the next moment without any agenda.
This practice can open us to others at times when we tend to close down. It gives us a way to be awake rather than asleep, a way to look outward rather than withdraw.
6. Half Eaten from Rachel Cole. She’s on fire right now, creating some really juicy stuff. I am so grateful for her honestly in this particular post. I have been in the moment she describes, and to have her share it is medicine to me.
7. Talk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama entitled “Human Compassion” given at the College of William & Mary’s Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, on October 10, 2012.
Dalai Lama for president!
8. This video broke my heart, but also filled me up with the love, the beauty that is possible in life. Amy McCracken (who has the biggest heart) shared it in a post on a blog she cowrites, 3x3x365.
10. Book Offers Guidance to the Gentle Art of Compassionate Euthanasia, an article about Dr. Cooney of Home to Heaven and her work. Dr. Cooney helped us to let our Obi go, and if we are “lucky” she or one of her kind colleagues will help us let Dexter go. I am so grateful to have such compassionate care so close. It brings me so much comfort.
11. Just One Thing from Susannah Conway. P.S. I am loving her blog redesign.
12. Impermanent art: Motoi Yamamoto’s “Return to the Sea: Saltworks.”
My advice: rather than worry about some “doomsday prophecy”, why not live your life today like it matters? Why not be present in the NOW? Instead of flipping out over the possibility of dying in some fiery comet (or other fantastical ending) why not just LIVE WELL? And rather than waiting for some random date on a calendar to become enlightened, why not strive to be a better person TODAY?
14. Justine Musk shared a quote from Robert McKee: “A story is the expression of how + why life changes. A story begins with balance, then something throws life out of balance, then a story goes on to describe how balance is restored.”
15.This quote from Tara Brach:
We’ve all felt the power of someone’s care to melt our armor. When we feel upset, often not until someone cares enough to listen or give us a hug are we able to melt down and cry. When someone says to us, as Thich Nhat Hanh suggests, “Darling, I care about your suffering,” a deep healing begins.
Your gift might not cure cancer, but somewhere, in some way, it eases a pain, or solves a problem, or brings light to darkness, or cracks open a false self, or exposes a lie, or generates hope.
17. I’ve shared this before, but it’s worth mentioning again: calm.com
baby chicken cloud over lory state park: yes, it’s real too.
Because it is a reality that we are by nature social animals, bound to depend on each other, we need to cultivate affection and concern for other people if we really desire peace and happiness. Look at wild animals and birds. Even they travel together, flock together, and help
each other. Bees do not have a particular legal system, they do not follow any spiritual practice, but for their livelihood and survival they depend on each other—that is their natural way of existence. Even
though we intelligent human beings must also depend on each other, we sometimes misuse our intelligence and try to exploit each other. That goes against human nature. For those of us who profess to believe in a particular religious practice, it is extremely important that we try to help each other and cultivate a feeling of affection for each other. That is the source of happiness in our life.
20. On the leaving on Carry It Forward. I’m so grateful to author Christa Gallopoulos for this, such a beautiful post.
24. Three minutes towards helping you feel better on Writing Our Way Home. My response to this post, this practice this morning was: Looking out my window into the dark all I can see is the reflection of my own face.
P.S. There are three other lists, similar to my Something Good post, where I get weekly inspiration. Usually a few items from these lists make it onto mine. They are:
I can’t get enough of 30 day blog challenges. Blogtoberfest one year ago was my first, done during what was only my second month of blogging, and it solidified my practice like nothing else could have.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 