#693 Wisdom via Mindfulness

     "In the development of wisdom, one quality of mind above all others is the key to practice. This quality is mindfulness, attention, or self-recollection. The most direct way to understand our life situation, who we are, and how our mind and body operate, is to observe with a mind that simply notices all events equally. This attitude of non-judgemental, direct observation allows all events to occur in a natural way. By keeping the attention in the present moment, we can see more and more clearly the true characteristics of our mind and body process. "                                       Jack Kornfield

WisdomAtWork.com

#652 Life's Difficulties AS Initiation

     “Life will initiate you. It will, in all it’s ways. It will make you face praise & blame, gain & loss, pleasure & pain, and joy & sorrow - it’s what it’s woven of. But to take it as an initiation, means to not avert your gaze, to not close your heart to the sorrows of the world, but to say ‘Yes, this has been given to me, and I will take this – the war that’s been given, the death, the injustice that’s the measure I’ve been given – and make something that is beautiful, some understanding or dignity out it.'
     As the Sufis say ‘Overcome any bitterness because you are not up to the magnitude of the pain that was entrusted to you. Like the mother of the world who carries the pain or the sorrows of the world in her heart, you are each endowed with a certain measure of cosmic pain, you are called upon to meet it in compassion & joy, instead of self-pity.’ "

        Kornfield J. "Awakening is Real. A Guide to the Deeper Dimensions of the Inner Journey." Sounds True (audio) www.soundstrue.com

WisdomAtWork.com

#631 Understanding

     "The most direct way to understand our life situation, who we are, and how our mind and body operate, is to observe with a mind that simply notices all events equally. This attitude of non-judgmental, direct observation allows all events to occur in a natural way. By keeping the attention in the present moment, we can see more and more clearly the true characteristics of our mind and body process. "

                 Jack Kornfield                                                  www.wisdomatwork.com

#559 Holding Reality in Spacious Awareness

     "The point of mindfulness isn't to change experience, but instead to allow experience to be witnessed, or held in the heart of mindfulness that says 'Yes, this is the way things are just now. It's like this.' ... (observe) ... and make space for it all."

       Jack Kornfield: The Case for Mindfulness and Wisdom in Law
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLV4Cty06Q4