Morning “Check In” — What is present and what is arising? When I awake in the morning, the first thing I do is “check in” to myself to see what’s going on. I consciously breathe in and out, center myself, and just listen and watch to see what arises. I try not to get snagged […]
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Krishnamurti-Fear of Death is Really Fear of Life
Death & Life J. Krishnamurti You cannot be frightened of the unknown because you do not know what the unknown is and so there is nothing to be afraid of. Death is a word, and it is the word, the image, that creates fear. So can you look at death without the image of death? […]
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Ways to work with fear rather than avoiding it
One of the great dharma resources in the Boston area is the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center: The CIMC Guiding Teachers and Teachers are (left to right) Larry Rosenberg, Narayan Liebenson Grady, and Michael Liebenson Grady: Below are some excerpts from a summary of a 1997 talk by Michael Liebenson Grady on how to deal skillfully […]
Continue readingThe Thorn in Your Heart
The Thorn in Your Heart Selections from the Attadanda Sutta of the Sutta Nipata (935-939) (948-951) [Translation and comments by Andrew Olendzki] Fear is born from arming oneself. Just see how many people fight! I’ll tell you about the dreadful fear that caused me to shake all over: Seeing creatures flopping around, Like fish in […]
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Among Trees – Quiet and Still
An untitled poem from from a collection of Wendell Berry’s poems called A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997 I go among trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water. My tasks lie in their places Where I left them, asleep like cattle. Then what is afraid of […]
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