Moments in life...

The Great Way is not difficult

for those who have no preferences.

When love and hate are both absent

everything becomes clear and undisguised.

Make the smallest distinction, however,

and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

If you wish to see the truth

then hold no opinions for or against anything.

To set up what you like against what you dislike

is the disease of the mind.

When the deep meaning of things is not understood

the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

Copied from: Dharma Talks: Bamboo in the Wind

I love this poem as it clearly states what you need to do in order to practice mindfulness. Setting aside judgment, right or wrong thinking is what gives us clarity and allows us to actually see what is happening. When we bring judgment, opinions, interpretations or analysis into the room it tends to cloud our vision. Try practicing seeing what is, naming it instead of applying judgment or labels to it. This to me is the path to freedom.

Until next time I wish you peace!

The Beauty of Aging

With every wrinkle
upon my flesh
feminine beauty and wisdom’s
expressed

For years I rejected
the beauty within
finding fault
with my body,
to fat or too thin

Not honoring
the beautiful woman
as she unfolded,
trying to fit into some idea of
how I needed to be molded

Listening to the doctrine
and ignorance of man,
telling me
be what I say or
you will be damned

I forsook myself and
denied my powers,
hopelessly misunderstood
…afraid of
my desires

Now, I slowly awake
from this embryonic state,
awake and aware
of the beauty within
reflected on my
beautiful dress,
my skin

No longer ashamed
of my beauty and essence
I break the chains
that held back my presence

Unfolding my wings
like a butterfly
I slowly stand proud,
face lifted to the sky

With each flutter of
my wings,
love of self flourishes from
within

Until…
I am a most
wonderous being
A woman proud
of what she is seeing

At last I stand
a woman, my outside
reflecting the beauty
within…

My Thoughts on Aging Gracefully by Cindy Ricardo, LMHC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at womenscafe.wordpress.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.acaringcounselor.net

Given what’s happening in our world today, it’s not surprising to find the number of people suffering from stress, depression and anxiety on the rise. Just turn on your television or radio and suddenly you’re  bombarded with the ups and downs of the stock market, news of more companies going out of business and the rising numbers of workers being layed off.

Hmmm…which one holds more promise…the past, present or future?

With all of the worry about the future and the recriminations of the past it’s no wonder that we are a society of stressed out and sleep deprived individuals!

When we are in a state of chaos our bodies and minds react instinctively and go into survival mode. This can be draining, as we spend a lot of time and energy trying find a way to attain balance between our inner lives and whats going on outside in our everyday world. It can become overwhelming and confusing as we lose track of the moment and spend much of our time reviewing past failures or successes and try to predict the future.

In my own life, I notice the ebb and flow of stress. Sometimes there are periods when the stress builds up and I end up feeling emotionally and mentally drained. On a physical level I often feel as it I have the strength of a noodle! The first place stress shows up in my body is in my shoulders. But even before it decides to fill the vacancy in my shoulders I can feel it trying to book a permanent room in my mind!

Help! I need some peace and quiet in my life!

Help! My mind has a mind of it's own!

The best method I have found to deal with this is to check in periodically and become aware of my thoughts.

In this way I’ve been able to stop the Stress Construction Project from establishing a place of business in my head, body and spirit. This it the benefit of developing a daily mindfulness practice and for me this is a lifesaving practice! It helps me to bring balance, clarity and connect with life!

It’s not about making all of the noise, frustration and worry go away. It is about creating space and time to take care of my most important resource; myself. When I take these little breaks (or mind and body retreats) I break away from the past and the future and become fully present to what is going on in my mind and my body. I become aware of how my mind dictates how my body responds to any particular situation. I don’t have to anything, I can just pause and allow what ever I am feeling to be present. I don’t have to judge them, push them away or runaway from them. When I pause I learn that accepting my feelings, allowing them to be present and even welcoming them will not devastate or overwhelm me. In fact, I have a totally different experience as I don’t feel the drain of creating stories, going into action or predicting the future.