“People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar”
“You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul”
“Allow your life to unfold naturally. Know that it is a vessel of perfection”
Rise Up Rooted Like Trees
How surely gravity’s law,
strong as an ocean current,
takes hold of even the smallest thing
and pulls it toward the heart of the world.
Each thing—
each stone, blossom, child
is held in place.
Only we, in our arrogance,
push out beyond what we each belong to
for some empty freedom.
If we surrendered
to earth’s intelligence
we could rise up rooted, like trees.
Instead we entangle ourselves
in knots of our own making
and struggle, lonely and confused.
So, like children, we begin again
to learn from the things,
because they are in God’s heart;
they have never left.
This is what the things can teach us:
to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.
Even a bird has to do that
before he can fly.
Rainer Maria Rilke
“The mind should be trained to be a servant of the heart. Logic should serve love. And then life”
“The mind should be trained to be a servant of the heart. Logic should serve love. And then life can become a Festival of Lights.”
“In the flush of love’s light, we dare be brave. And suddenly we see that love costs all we are, and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free”
“Spare me perfection. Give me instead the wholeness that comes from embracing the full reality of who I am, just as I am. Paradoxically, it is this whole self that is most perfect.”
“Real fearlessness is the product of tenderness. It comes from letting the world tickle your heart, your raw and beautiful heart. You are willing to open up, without resistance or shyness, and face the world. You are willing to share your heart with others”
“Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside”
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens ”
“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone ”
“Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry — all forms of fear — are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.”
“We need the willingness to lose our world. That willingness is the surrender; that willingness is the letting go. And each of us has to find what that letting go means for us, what we need to let go of. Whether it is easy or difficult does not matter in the slightest. It is the letting go that is ultimately important.”
“Pay no attention to your thoughts. Don’t fight them. Just do nothing about them, let them be, whatever they are. Your very fighting them gives them life. Just disregard. Look through. You need not stop thinking. Just cease being interested. Stop your routine of acquisitiveness, your habit of looking for results and the freedom of the universe is yours.”
“Being generous of spirit is a wonderful way to live.”
“The open path is a matter of working purely with what is, of giving up altogether the fear that something may not work, that something may end in failure. One has to give up the paranoia that one might not fit into situations, that one might be rejected. One purely deals with life as it is.”
“When things fall apart in your life, you feel as if your whole world is crumbling. But actually, it’s your fixed identity that’s crumbling. And as Chögyam Trungpa used to tell us, that’s cause for celebration.”