1. Truth: In order to do more, I need to do less. I have been getting this message loud and clear lately. To slow down, relax, focus on one thing at a time, to do one small thing and give it my full attention, to be completely present in each moment, to pay attention, to be exactly where I am as I am with what is, to sink deeply into life, to surrender my agenda and let go of my plans, to show up with an open heart and allow whatever arises to be.
2. Truth: I need more rest. My strategy in the past was to push through tired, to keep going until collapse or overwhelm. Then I started resting more, and feeling better. And yet, I’m realizing that I need even more rest than I thought (instead of eight hours of sleep, I feel better with nine or ten, with lots of breaks during the day, plenty of time alone, lots of quiet and stillness, fresh air and long walks). What I am also accepting is that this is not a sign of weakness or a failure, it just is.
3. Truth: I want a small, simple life. And yet, when I say that, I also mean that I want this life to be deep and wide, spacious–which I know seems like a contradiction, but makes perfect sense to me somehow.
One Truth: That we all find the balance that works for us, that we get the rest we need, and that our lives are exactly the right fit for us.
2. Savor on Just Lara. Some day I will learn how to do this.
3. This quote from Thich Nhat Hahn:
To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. When you are born a lotus flower, be a beautiful lotus flower, don’t try to be a magnolia flower. If you crave acceptance and recognition and try to change yourself to fit what other people want you to be, you will suffer all your life. True happiness and true power lie in understanding yourself, accepting yourself, having confidence in yourself.
9. This quote from Hugh MacLeod, “If you’re unhappy, nine times out of ten it’s because you’re clinging onto something. Nine times out of ten, happiness and letting go are synonymous.”
10. This quote from Ernest Hemingway, “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
19. A Good Life from Judy Clement Wall, and a really good question.
20. This quote:
Meditation is not something that you do. Meditation is a movement into the whole question of our living: how we live, how we behave, whether we have fears, anxieties, sorrows; whether we are everlastingly pursuing pleasure; and whether we have built images about ourselves and about others. ~J. Krishnamurti
Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control. We can love and care for others but we cannot possess our children, lovers, family, or friends. We can assist them, pray for them, and wish them well, yet in the end their happiness and suffering depend on their thoughts and actions, not on our wishes. ~Jack Kornfield
23. Meet this transient world with neither grasping nor fear, trust the unfolding of life, and you will attain true serenity. ~Bhagavad Gita
24. Kindness is the Cure for Depression from Gennifer Carragher on Kind Over Matter. (P.S. I am compelled to add, however, that if your depression doesn’t get better with this method, is more than mild, please ask for help).
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 