All the time in the world

Restlessness. The urge to move, wanting to leave, do something else, be other than… This energy creeping in my body. Been sensing this restless feeling while meditating recently. Its not really obvious, but underlying, like a quiet whisper. Like I don't really have time for this. Saying softly to myself:

You have all the time in the world. Please, just sit down
Listen
Listen to the sounds. The silence
Please sit down
All the time in the world

Ways to cross life's floods!

I'm reading a really helpful book right now. Parami -ways to cross life's floods. By Ajahn Sucitto. I really recommend it. This book helps me building a path out of suffering and stress. It's easy to follow and by reading it slowly and taking in the instructions I have trust this will help me on the way.  As said in the book:
This is done by using a set of instructions (paramitas) to cultivate skillful actions in your everyday life so you can "steer your life out of the floods".
In the Theravada tradition there are ten paramitas (different schools of Buddhists selected different qualities to be parami - these ten are Theravada designated):

Dhana (generosity)
Sila (morality)
Nekkhamma (renunciation)
Panna (discernment/wisdom)
Viriya (energy)
Khanti (patience)
Sacca (truthfulness)
Adhittana (resolve)
Metta (kindness)
Upekkha (equanimity)

Life always gives...

“Life always gives us 

exactly the teacher we need 

at every moment. 

This includes every mosquito, 

every misfortune, 

every red light, 

every traffic jam, 

every obnoxious supervisor (or employee), 

every illness, every loss, 

every moment of joy or depression, 

every addiction, 

every piece of garbage, 

every breath.

Every moment is the guru.”

― Charlotte Joko Beck

Make life simple

You yourself have made your life complex. You have entangled yourself in this quagmire. You have multiplied your wants and desires. Every day you are forging new links in the chain of bondage. Simplicity has vanished. Luxurious habits are daily developed.
Swami Sivananda

The way out of suffering

I have recently started to paint Mandalas. I find it very meditative. I usually meditate before painting. Starting with a blank paper, drawing a circle around a plate and then sometimes draw shapes and filling them, sometimes just paint inside the blank circle. Colors are chosen intuitively. I find it interesting to watch what colors are chosen and try to observe what's happening in the body while painting them. This is #6 called Filling out.

"We're turning around huge momentums. You got to work on it and it takes basic strength, basic heart and basic clarity. There's your team. "

from The way out of suffering, stress (Ajahn Sucitto)

Decisions...

Life is like a box of chocolates. Sometimes you just have to make a choice.

Being in the present

"Being here is fine, but being in a perception is not fine. However good the perception is, because it's riddled with feeling, possibilities and with fear and things that should be done and things that could happen and all that. It's kind of affective wobbly stuff. Who wants more of it? It's enough going on already " 

Ajahn Sucitto  ' be where you are' 

Lost my smile, but don't worry!

--Thich Nhat Hanh:

When I see someone smile, I know immediately that he or she is dwelling in awareness. [...] Our smile will bring happiness to us and to those around us. Even if we spend a lot of money on gifts for everyone in our family, nothing we buy could give them as much happiness as the gift of our awareness, our smile. And this precious gift costs nothing. At the end of a retreat in California, a friend wrote this poem:

I have lost my smile, 

but don't worry. 

The dandelion has it.

If you have lost your smile and yet are still capable of seeing that a dandelion is keeping it for you, the situation is not too bad. You still have enough mindfulness to see that the smile is there.

You only need to breathe consciously one or two times and you will recover your smile. The dandelion is one member of your community of friends. It is there, quite faithful, keeping your smile for you.

In fact, everything around you is keeping your smile for you.

The unlimited is already perfect

You are perfect, only you don’t know it. Learn to know yourself and you will discover wonders. All you need is already within you, only you must approach yourself with reverence and love. Self-condemnation and self-distrust are grievous errors. Your constant flight from pain and search for pleasure is a sign of the love you bear for yourself; all I plead with you is this: make love of yourself perfect. Deny yourself nothing – give yourself infinity and eternity and discover that you do not need them; you are beyond.

-- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 

Allow

“Allow” by Danna Faulds

There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt, containing a tornado.
Dam a stream and it will create a new channel.
Resist, and the tide will sweep you off your feet.

Allow, and grace will carry you to higher ground.

The only safety lies in letting it all in –

the wild and weak –

fear, fantasies, failures, and success.

When loss rips off the doors of the heart

or sadness veils your vision with despair,

practice becomes simply bearing the truth.

In the choice to let go of your known way of being,

the whole world is revealed to your new eyes.