THE DAILY SPARK

ARE THOUGHTS TRUE?

As a rule, we are very attached to our thoughts and feelings, whatever they are, and simply relate to their content unquestioningly, as if it were the truth, hardly ever recognizing that thoughts and feeling are actually discrete events within the field of awareness, tiny and fleeting occurrences in the mind that are usually at least somewhat if not highly inaccurate and unreliable.

From: ARRIVING AT YOUR OWN DOOR: 108 Lessons in Mindfulness by Jon Kabat-Zinn

REFLECTION:

  • Is there a thought or feeling that you believe is true without questioning it?
  • What is it?  Can you name it and then ask:  Is it true?  Is it REALLY true?

WHY HELP?

There is a difference between helping someone because if you don’t you will lose their love or some sense of you own image as a caring person, and helping someone because your impulse of heart moves you to their aid.

From: THE BOOK OF AWAKENING by Mark Nepo

REFLECTION: 

  • Reflect on someone you are helping now or helped in the recent past. 
  • What were your motives?
  • Were you afraid to lose love or because your heart called you forth to help?

ABUNDANCE OF YOUR LIFE

“Today I overheard an American teenager comparing her deprivation to that of our children (in Peru, South America), because her parents would only buy her a used car.  There are none so impoverished as those who do not acknowledge the abundance of their lives.”

Quote from THE SUNFLOWER by Richard Paul Evans

REFLECTION:

  • What abundance can you acknowledge today?
  • Be grateful!