Beginning Anew

Beginning Anew

 To begin anew is to look deeply and honestly at ourselves, our past actions, speech and thoughts and to create a fresh beginning within ourselves and in our relationships with others.

                                             www.plumvillage.org

 Leaving an old year behind and entering a new one, many of us feel like grabbing the occasion to make a clean slate and begin anew. We look at the areas of our lives where things don’t work very well, and decide to bring about changes.

After the holiday gluttony many people decide to start living a healthier life with more exercise and better eating habits, but you can also look at other daily habits, or at your relationships, and bring about positive changes there.

The thing is not only to make beautiful promises, but to really act out these changes. Sit down and honestly assess various areas of your life to find out where you really need to bring in some change for the better, and perhaps even make a written commitment or a plan. 

I have decided to work harder on letting go of the small moments of irritation in life, according to the motto “Stop, Drop & Breathe”. In my journal I will follow the development: every evening I’ll note when I failed – and when I succeeded! ☺

Season's Greetings

Season's Greetings

Christmas is such a cosy and beautiful celebration, and ever since childhood I have enjoyed how it marked long and dark winters with happiness and light.

However, as an adult I have chosen to affiliate with other spiritual traditions than Christianity, as it feels odd to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the son of a God that I don't believe in. So I've "re-invented" the tradition for myself, looking left and right for inspiration.

The early Christians seem to have used the date  of the already existing winter solstice celebration to make it "theirs". And yes, we need something to lighten up this period of very short days and long nights. The Jewish Hanukkah celebration, the "festival of lights", is one source of inspiration. 

It feels so right to celebrate the LIGHT, both in Nature, and from within: in the outer world the sunlight is slowly returning after the 21st of December, and inside us, we have the warm light of love, care, and understanding. Both are worthy of a proper celebration, when I light lots of candles, enjoy togetherness, and show extra generosity both to my beloved ones, and to people in need.

Happy Christmas, Light Feast, Winter Solstice or whatever you call it!

Beginning the Day

Beginning the Day

Every twenty-four hour day is a tremendous gift to us. 

I begin my day by making an offering of incense while following my breath. I think to myself that this day is a day to live fully, and I make the vow to live each moment of it in a way that is beautiful, solid, and free. 

You can do the same thing when you wake up. Breathe in and tell yourself that a new day has been offered to you, and you have to be here to live it.

Thich Nhat Hanh: You Are Here

It only takes me a couple of minutes to start off every day in full awareness: I smile to myself and the universe, and gently burn a stick of incense or light a candle. I solidly stand in front of it, and decide to do my best to slow down enough to live this particular day in mindfulness.

I want to offer my full presence to every act I do and every person I meet. Every time I succeed in slowing down and being fully HERE and NOW, both I and my life become more beautiful, solid, and free.

Silence is Golden

AA wrote: Love it, I will apply the THINK method :) Thank you <3
BB wrote: das war schön gesagt... weisst Du, über dieses "sprechen müssen, etwas zu sagen haben" , ja, darüber denke ich auch immer öfters nach...Nichts zu sagen, sagt oftmals viel mehr!  :) Aber "sprechen zu müssen" ist vielleicht vielmehr einfach das Bedürfnis an einer Gemeinschaft teilzuhaben, hat man nichts zu sagen,wird es schwer mit dem Umgang mit Menschen, denn "etwas zu sagen zu haben" ist auch eine Einladung zum Sprechen für die anderen. Aber Dein Gedanke ist schön.....

Silence is Golden

He who knows, does not speak. 

He who speaks, does not know.*

Lao Tzu

We speak too much. That is: we speak even if we have nothing important to say. Why? 

All along the day I notice the desire in me to speak, to be listened to. What is the real cause of that wish? Is there a need for recognition behind this urge to express myself? Maybe the child in me still feels the need to be seen and heard by my parents… 

By looking for recognition from others, I put the power over me in their hands. My task consists in learning to find the recognition I need within myself. And to realise how important it is to think before I speak:

T - is it True?

H - is it Helpful?

I - is it Inspiring?

N - is it Necessary?

K - is it Kind?

*Celui qui sait ne parle pas. 

Celui qui parle ne sait pas.

Standing Straight in Life

AA wrote: Tack för tankenötterna!Jag brukar fundera på hur jag kan vara en bra människa och vad som är möjligt att göra för att den här ogreppbara världen ska bli lite bättre. Att ge människor ett respektfullt bemötande och försöka "se" folk tänker jag är en del i det. Men som med många av dina nötter, hade jag inte tänkt på det ur det här perspektivet! inspirerande.

Standing Straight in Life

The posture "inspires" the individual. When you stand straight in life, your expression changes. Everything within you is transformed.*

                                                                                  Sogyal Rinpoche

Sometimes I’m slouching. I might be tired or there might be a lack of attention,  a kind of "I don't really care". At that moment I’m giving in to laziness, to not being the best of me. However, although it may seem that slouching is more relaxed, it actually makes your muscles work harder. It also makes it harder to breathe deeply and fully, which further reduces energy levels. A good posture relaxes tension in your neck, shoulders, and back.

Luckily I often catch myself and immediately straighten up. Not being the best of me? No way; I am here to always be the best of me! At any given moment, in any situation, whether somebody else is around or not. That’s what my whole existence is about: always being the best of me.

Check our posture often: pull back your head and pull your shoulders down and back. This will realign your spine and get your posture toward the right angle. Keep your feet apart at hip distance and balance your your weight easily on both feet. Relax your knees and let your ars hang loosely at your side. 

It’s important to stand straight in life. With that posture, you show yourself and the world that you care: about yourself, and about others. You show that you know what you want, where you are going, and why. Standing straight in life shows that you have confidence and energy, that you meet the challenges of life with an open mind, and that you are not afraid. 

You stand straight, and you look people straight in the eye. You consciously listen to them, and speak your own truth.  It all goes together. 

*La posture "inspire" l'individu. Lorsque vous vous tenez droit dans la vie, votre expression change. Tout se transforme en vous.

A Magical Person

AA wrote:  Tack för dina mysiga och tänkvärda små mejl på måndagarna. Ser fram emot dem som en liten oas att läsa mellan ” allt det andra”.

A Magical Person 

From time to time into each of our lives there steps a magical person. Out of nowhere, seemingly for no reason, a human being appears whose romance with life is so beautiful and rare, so whimsical and holy that, without any effort at all, he enchants us with his extraordinary gift for living. *

                                                                 Daphne Rose Kingma: A Garland of Love

Think about a Magical Person in your life. It may be your partner, your child, an aunt or a friend, a colleague or someone you just ran into somewhere. A person who has a real “romance with life” and conveys that to others. 

Think about the effect this person has on you – how she (or he) makes you feel light and happy, almost enchanted. How she always inspires you and gives you hope. Think about her message: life is beautiful and magical, and it is possible to fulfil your dreams!

Send a heartfelt Thank You to the Magical Persons in your life, for how they, just by their way of being, teach you to love life .  

Let’s try to bring out the Magical Person within ourselves!

* De temps en temps entre dans chacune de nos vies une personne magique. Venu de nulle part, sans raison apparente, un être humain apparaît qui entretient avec la vie une romance si merveilleuse et si rare, si bizarre et si sacré que, sans faire aucun effort, il nous enchante avec son extraordinaire cadeau pour la vie. 

Refuse to Increase Hate

AA: Cher Sabina tu a tellement raison! 

Refuse to Increase Hate

Don’t hate, just mediate.

Jonathan Gillespie

We do not want more hate or fear in this world. Right now we are all chocked by the events in Paris.  Even if we are not personally touched by them, it’s like a big stone has placed itself on our chests - the heavy load of sorrow, fear and worry. So many people were attacked, wounded and killed… It could have been us, or our beloved ones. If these things happen in Paris, they can happen anywhere. 

Who are the “terrorists”?  What fuels them to kill and destroy, both others and themselves? It must be because they suffer, because they do not see life as the precious gift that it is. It must be because they lack love and understanding. Maybe nobody ever loved or understood them...

What can I do in my little circle to increase love and understanding in the world? I try to mediate any conflicts, however small. I try to live love and understanding in everything I think, say and do. 

And personally, I meditate for those who suffer, and open my heart for them.

PS: These terror attacks get huge cover in media, and rightly so. But I wish that other atrocities around the world could be covered with the same intensity to allow them to really sink into our consciousness and take action - that more than 200.000 people have been killed during the civil war in Syria or a that a countless number of refugees have lost their lives in the Mediterranean sea, just to name two ...

A Leap of Faith Never Fails

AA wrote: My dear friend, you can't imagine how perfect this was for me today! I was literally just preparing the announcement of my new photography website when I read your words. My introverted soul found it so difficult to make the leap. Thank you for your gentle nudge, I just posted my link on Facebook and added it to my IG profile. The universe works in incredible ways!

BB wrote: deine Texte sind meine wöchentliche Inspiration und ich liebe sie! Du hast die wunderbare Gabe, Bedürfnisse, Werte und Sehnsüchte einfach und klar auszudrücken und sprichst damit immer direkt zu meinem Herzen. Vielen Dank für dein wöchentliches Geschenk!

A Leap of Faith Never Fails

And the day came when the risk it took to remain tightly closed in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to bloom.

                                                     Anaïs Nin

Can you relate to that feeling? You stay in your small, limited world, not daring to take the risk to jump into the cold water. The cold water may be a new job, the move to another city, or trying to explore a talent you feel you might have. It feels safer to stay put, not risking what you have or “making a fool out of yourself”. 

Three years ago, when I was about to change my life, I very clearly felt that remaining where I was would be more painful that risking a change of which I had no idea where it would lead me. A leap of faith always gets you forward, towards your true me. You take a risk, and even if you may not gain what you had expected, you certainly gain insights about yourself, and that is no small thing. 

I assure you: it’s an exhilarating feeling to take the risk to jump out into the unknown and to bloom. It’s exhilarating  to let go of the controlling ego and open up to all kinds of surprises.  It’s how life is meant to be: risky business.

Whoever thinks about daring to leap into the cold water - do it! A leap of faith never fails. 

Choose Who You Want To Be

AA wrote: Your theme couldn't be better for me today! You hit the point.

This is exactly what I'm fighting for. I don't want to be a Victim surrending to what "was done to me" to but be a Creator of my own life.

All these years I had a vision of myself - I'm not the person struggling through the hardships only. That is temporary. It is only the fight I have to win to arrive there where I want to be. Today I'm there.

BB wrote: Merci pour cette réflexion partagée et tellement juste !

Choose Who You Want To Be

I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.

C. G. Jung

So many difficult and complicated things happen in a person’s life; so many reasons to give up and resign to a “lesser life”, not living to our full potential. Perhaps they are small things, like an insensitive gym teacher saying you were the clumsiest pupil ever – and you resign to not ever trying to do any kind of sports activities (thereby punishing yourself). Perhaps they are big and terrible things, like being mistreated or abused at school or at home, and these events cripple and numb you for many years.

But at a certain point we have to take the full responsibility over our own lives. And that’s where the magic begins: we can choose who we want to be and through diligent work on ourselves and full concentration on our lives, we can become that person. 

You want to be a happier person? Count your blessings: decide to find reasons to be happy every single day - and you’ll see, soon you become a happier person!

Everything Has a Purpose

AA wrote: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross... I used to read her a lot in the past, even long before Patrik left. I loved her comparison of a cocoon turning into a butterfly.

I fully agree with you in finding it relaxing, comforting, reassuring that there is a purpose behind everything.

Everything Has a Purpose

Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings, given to us to learn from.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Many difficult events in our lives seem unfair or meaningless, and we may curse our fate and wonder why these things happens to us. Often we spend much energy on pondering over this WHY, instead of going on with life as it is.

Drop unnecessary pondering. Learn to get in touch with your inner silence, be it through sitting or walking meditation, or in any other form. That is the most helpful thing you can do to calm down and see things in their true light. 

It may sound strange, but I find it relaxing to know that everything in life happens for a purpose. That way I can let go of trying to control the events in my life, and take things as they come. I know that there is a reason for everything that happens, a reason that I may not see or understand in that precise moment. 

Look back into your own life, and I am sure that you can already see several examples of the fact that many difficult events we have had to deal with turned out to be blessings...

Light a Lamp

Light a Lamp

It is more intelligent to light a very small lamp, than to complain about the darkness.*

Laozi

The dark period of the year has definitely begun. It’s already dark when we get up in the morning, and soon it will be dark when we come home from work. It’s a difficult period to get through, and small or big depressions make their way among many of us. 

This is the season to take extra good care of yourself and those around you. Don’t complain about the darkness, try to light it up instead! Cosiness is key. Dress warm (it’s more important to feel good than to be elegant), drink your favourite tea, prepare hot soups for dinner and light lots of candles! 

Now is the time to retire from the hectic life, and cuddle up on te coach with a good book, a hot chocolate or a nice movie. Now is the time to get lots of sleep and rub in your skin (quickly drying in heated rooms) with a fragrant cream - valid also for the gentlemen among you! :-)

Light the lamp of cosiness and care, and get happily through autumn and winter! 

*Il est plus intelligent d’allumer une toute petite lampe, que de te plaindre de l’obscurité. 

Lao Tzu 

Slowing Down

AA wrote:  "This is exactly what I needed. Your words are so spot on!".

Slowing Down

I have no time to rush

Tara Brach

Autumn is a season of decline in nature, and it somehow comes naturally to slow down our own steps, too. 

We have been rushing through summer, wanting to grasp each fleeting moment of its fullness, rarely stopping to reflect.

Now is the time to slow down, to take a deep breath and let the stunning freshness and colours of autumn sink in. 

We "have no time to rush”: rushing prevents us from taking in all the beauty around us. Rushed-through life is almost like blind, or un-lived life. 

In this amazing season I want to live each moment fully, enjoy each step through the fallen leaves, each breath of the moist, rich autumn air.

Let’s slow down, and quietly walk towards the hibernation we can only imagine...

Childhood Treasures

AA wrote: Så sant. Faktiskt har jag börjat göra det, kanske någonting som kommer automatiskt med åren, alltså att tänka på barndomen och det som var bra då och det känns så mysigt och helande.

Childhood Treasures

Happy is he, who still loves something he loved in the nursery. He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one.

  G K Chesterton

Do you remember a lot from your childhood? Try to evoke some positive memories from those days: who loved you or taught you things; who did you admire? Did you have an animal that showed you affection? In what gardens, playgrounds, fields or forests did you play or dream?

All that you loved as a child, all that nourished you is still a part of you. Why don’t you return to those childhood treasures to draw strength and joy, and to relive that deeply rooted happiness and playfulness!

Recognise the Other

AA wrote:  I want to thank you very much for the happiness network as it really helped me a lot.  I myself was not too much in contact with people rather with my own family as i needed time to reflect but coincidentally or not?! Your topics were always of right timing and they were my guidance support! So, please keep on doing this....you make people more aware of themselves and their surroundings and realise the real priorities in life! So thank you very much once more and stay in contact...you are a katalysator to small miracles happening to a person's life!!

Recognise the Other

 What is loving? It is recognising the presence of the other with your love.

                                                                 Thich Nhat Hanh: You Are Here

By now you know my vision of love - a feeling of warmth, acceptance and care not only reserved for your family or partner, but for all living beings. Why should we be stingy with a feeling like that? The moment you feel love for whoever it might be, you radiate it and become happy yourself too!

My favourite definition of love is the quote by Thich Nhat Hanh: love is actually recognising the presence of the other with that warm feeling. It’s about seeing your fellow human beings, and being there for them. Be it the shabby elderly man next to you on the bus, the neighbour’s screaming child, the scary looking skinhead in the street - or your near and dear ones. 

Take the time to look at the people you meet, and with your smile you might just make their day. And your own, too! :-)

Find Peace in Yourself

Find Peace in Yourself

If you cannot find peace in yourself, it is useless to look for it elsewhere.

                                                                   François de la Rochefoucauld

Try to find a quiet moment during the coming week for the following meditation:

Sit straight on a chair or a cushion. Follow your breath for a while. In your mind, double yourself. One part remains sitting peacefully, and receives the other, which takes place in this protective lap, calmly resting.

Consciously enjoy the sensation of rest and protection, and store it to nourish you later.

At several occasions during the day return to this feeling of security and warmth and know that you can always refill the cup. It’s all in yourself.

The Needs Wish List

AA wrote: Oh super! But right - not so easy. I will try though. Thank you <3

The Needs Wish List

 Expressing our own needs and responding to somebody else’s is an important function of any loving relationship. But often we’re so out of touch with our needs that we can’t even figure out what they are, much less express them or know the joy of having met them.

But you can’t have your needs met unless you know what they are: so today, even though it might be scary, strange and unfamiliar, allow yourself to identify three very specific things that you need – in whatever area of your life – and know that identifying them will be the beginning of getting them fulfilled. 

                                                 Daphne Rose Kingma: A Garland of Love

There is nothing more to add to above quote; thank you Ms. Kingma for the inspiration! :-)

Promote Awakening

AA wrote:  Tack för små påminnelser i mailen om det viktiga i livet! Jag läser alltid dina mail och tar till mig det du skriver. 

BB wrote: I loved todays letter by the way.. I am thinking of my action to take to slow down..

Promote Awakening

Everyone has to do the work of promoting awakening. Awakening is the foundation of every kind of change.

                                                 Thich Nhat Hanh: Answers from the Heart

I know it sounds presumptuous, but I actually feel like a kind of messenger. Just a very humble one and in a very small scale, but still… And as such I want to do what I can to spread the message, to “promote awakening”.

Our world needs a shift, and I am convinced that shift is on its way. More and more people become aware of the fact that there are other things to life than material welfare, making a career, or rushing around the globe, chasing for exciting new experiences.

More and more people stop the crazy rat race they’re in, and notice that slowing down is not something negative, a sign of weakness or stupidity. 

More and more people discover their souls, and become responsive to its needs. And that’s the first step to awakening.

What little change can you do this week to promote your own awakening...?  Eat your breakfast mindfully? Take a silent walk for lunch? Take 5 minutes before going to bed to recollect your day?

Be a Witness of Your Thoughts

Be a Witness of Your Thoughts

Awakening is a shift in consciousness in which thinking and awareness separate.

Eckhart Tolle: A New Earth

Many spiritual traditions talk about Enlightenment, or Awakening. I find Eckhart Tolle’s definition and his explanations both easy to understand and helpful.

”For many people, the first indication of a spiritual awakening is that they suddenly become aware of their thoughts.

You become a witness to your thoughts, so to speak. You can then make a conscious choice to be present rather than to indulge in useless thinking. You can invite awareness into your life, that is to say, make space.”

Try to take some time this week to sit down in silence. Breathe quietly, and make space in your mind. See if you can become the awareness floating behind your thoughts, if only for a short moment…