Author: Anne

This author has written 790 articles

LIKE STAINED GLASS

How like stained glass are we.  Honesty enables us to discover the images of life that shape us, the images that scratch and stain us with experience.  But these are nothing without the sincerity of heart that will fill them and us with color.  And then, if we are to come alive at all, we must place ourselves in the light.  We all know how sudden and brilliant a stained glass window can be: dirty and opaque one moment and breathtaking as soon as the sun floods it and we can see it from the inside.  We are the same:  sacred windows in the making.  So to place ourselves in the light and to see each other from the inside are the most important skills we can learn.

FROM: The BOOK OF AWAKENING Having The Life You Want By Being Present To The Life You Have by Mark Nepo

REFLECTION:

  • You are a sacred window in the making. 
  • Is there some truth telling/ sincerity of your heart that can let more light in?
  • How can you see others from the inside letting in more of the light?
  • How can you see yourself more in the light – to be more fully alive? 

WITHOUT FILTERS

Directly experiencing a particular place can only happen if you manage to be present without your usual filters.  Otherwise, you might only be in your concept or idea of a place, whether it be your home, your work place or, for that matters, an exotic vacation destination.  That postcard from the edge may very well apply “Having a great time.  Wish I were here.” But you are! But you are!

Source:  Arriving At Your Own Door  108 Lessons in Mindfulness by Jon Kabat-Zinn

REFLECTION:

  • Where are you right now?
  • How present are you to what you are experiencing, feeling right now?
  • Is your life’s postcard suggesting “Wish you were here?”
  • Practice being more mindful today.

ACHIEVING PEACE

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.

Quote by Albert Einstein

REFLECTION:

  • Is there something you need to understand better and by doing so you can have more peace?
  • What would help you achieve better understanding … self-reflection, research, asking questions, conversation with others, etc.?
  • Do it!