Something to Inspire
Category: Inspiration
Something to Inspire
“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,
Heart Centered Learning: The Apple Experiment
Something to Inspire
“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”
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
“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
“The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state that makes art inevitable.” ~ Robert Henri
Something to Inspire
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.
Something to Inspire
Every day, at the moment when things get edgy, we can just ask ourselves, “Am I going to practice peace, or am I going to war?”
~ Living Beautifully: An Inspirational Journal by Pema Chödrön
In the Times In Life
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.
Heart Centered Learning: Jully Black
“As an artist, Jully is a truth teller and she represents how artists are a part of the conscience of society. She created an energetic shift in February when she changed one word in ‘Oh Canada’.” ~ RoseAnne Archibald, National Chief, Assembly of First Nations
Something to Inspire
“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
Breath by Breath 