"A practice I have been enjoying for some months now is to “make peace with the present moment”. That means that when thoughts arise followed by thoughts of judgment I tell myself that the whole process is part of my practice: the original thoughts and the secondary or following thoughts as well. I do this by saying to myself, “how human of me to have a thought of X”. This helps so much when I look at the behavior of others as well.
When I say silently to myself, “How human of him to act/react with anger or fear or disappointment” then there is a space for compassion to arise in me. And I like how that feels. Then I am at peace with the present moment.
Judith Hanson Lasater - from: http://www.judithlasater.com/writings/ 'Recent Thoughts'
...the 8 factors (limbs) of Patanjali's Yoga could usefully be arranged in a circle since it is by their combined power that the yogin propels himself forward along the path of internalisation.
George Feuerstein THE YOGA SUTRA OF PATANJALI 'The Eightfold Yoga'
O thou dweller in my heart,
open it out, purify it, make it bright and beautiful,
awaken it, prepare it, make it fearless,
make it a blessing to others,
Mohandes K Gandhi BOOK OF PRAYERS
An empty day without events.
And that is why
it grew immense
as space. And suddenly
happiness of being
entered me.
Anna Swir, Milosz and Nathan, trans. TALKING TO MY BODY 'Priceless Gifts'
How is it possible to remain peaceful in such a violent world?
You have to want to lose your appetite for violence or aggression. And to do that, you have to lose your self-righteousness. You have to realize that you cannot continue to have your habitual reaction to something, especially if your reaction ends with violence-physical or verbal-against yourself or somebody else, or even against the government of your country or the terrorists or whomever. You have to accept in your gut that the habitual reaction is poisonous not only to you but to the rest of the world.
Pema Chodron
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