Category: Inspiration

Something to Inspire

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“To honestly face the pain in our lives and the problems in the world, let’s start by looking compassionately and honestly at our own minds. We can become intimate with the mind of hatred, the mind that polarizes, the mind that makes somebody ‘other’ and bad and wrong. We come to know, unflinchingly, and with great kindness, the angry, unforgiving, hostile wolf. Over time, that part of ourselves becomes very familiar, but we no longer feed it. Instead, we can make the choice to nurture openness, intelligence, and warmth. This choice, and the attitudes and actions that follow from it, are like a medicine that has the potential to cure all suffering.”

Excerpted from: Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears by Pema Chödrön,

Something to Inspire

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“Curiosity involves being gentle, precise, and open—actually being able to let go and open. Gentleness is a sense of goodheartedness toward ourselves. Precision is being able to see clearly, not being afraid to see what’s really there. Openness is being able to let go and to open. When you come to have this kind of honesty, gentleness, and good-heartedness, combined with clarity about yourself, there’s no obstacle to feeling loving-kindness for others as well.”

Excerpted from: Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion by Pema Chödrön

Listen List: Anna Sum, “Different Than Before”

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Amanda Sum’s ‘Different Than Before’ takes home the 2023 Music Video Jury Award at SXSW. Directed/Written by Mayumi Yoshida, the music video stars Tzi Ma and Olivia Cheng. It was selected as Vimeo Staff Pick and won Best Music Video at the 45th annual Asian American International Film Festival in New York City, among selections at HollyShorts Film Festival and Aesthetica Short Film Festival (a BAFTA qualifying festival).

Something to Inspire

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“If right now our emotional reaction to seeing a certain person or hearing certain news is to fly into a rage or to get despondent or something equally extreme, it’s because we have been cultivating that particular habit for a very long time. But as my teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche used to say, we can approach our lives as an experiment. In the next moment, in the next hour, we could choose to stop, to slow down, to be still for a few seconds. We could experiment with interrupting the usual chain reaction and not spin off in the usual way. We don’t need to blame someone else, and we don’t need to blame ourselves. When we’re in a tight spot, we can experiment with not strengthening the aggression habit and see what happens.“

Excerpted from: Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears by Pema Chödrön,

Something to Inspire

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A Franciscan Blessing 

May God bless us with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths,
And superficial relationships
So that we may live
Deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger
At injustice, oppression,
And exploitation of people,
So that we may work for
Justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless us with tears
To shed for those who suffer from pain,
Injustice, starvation and war,
So that we may reach out our hands
To comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless us with enough foolishness
To believe we can
Make a difference in the world,
So that we can do
What others claim cannot be done.

In the Times In Life

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In the times in life
when it all gets to be too much
and you feel yourself breaking
and you wonder how on earth we got here
and where on earth we are going
and it feels like the gods have deserted
the weakest and the meekest
in their most fragile hour.

It helps a little bit to put
your naked feet on the naked ground
or to rest your head on a pillow of grass
or to find some sun to sit in
or a star to gaze upon.

And as you rest here, being held
by the earth or the sun, or a star,
know that a mystery and an order
and a future creation
may be lurking deep within the current chaos.

In much the same way
that a once swirling and formless hot mess
of energy and stardust
slowly morphed into a now living
and loving and heart-beating miracle
who can now sit in the sun
and put her feet on the earth
and lay her head on the grass
and feel the joy and the pain of being alive.

~ Anna Colton

Something to Inspire

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“There are always people in our lives whose needs appear overwhelming. Sometimes those needs are overwhelming for the person experiencing them and for others who try to help them meet those needs. Friends, neighbours, loved ones knock on our door looking for assistance of various kinds at various times. Within our limited material means, we offer what we can, even when it is not nearly enough. But we can always—or almost always—give our care and attention. We can accompany people. We can listen.”

~ Excerpted from: Turning Words: Transformative Encounters with Buddhist Teachers by Hozan Alan Senauke

Something to Inspire

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A child raised by a good parent will grow up able to be a congenial and loving adult. The conduct of one parent with such a heart reveals itself in this way through ongoing generations. Parents’ lives are not confined to themselves alone. They are the starting point of life that unfolds into the infinite future.

Excerpted from: Zen Seeds: 60 Essential Buddhist Teachings on Effort, Gratitude, and Happiness by Shundo Aoyama