Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. -- Melody Beattie
"Times are difficult globally; awakening is no longer a luxury or an ideal. It’s becoming critical. We don’t need to add more depression, more discouragement, or more anger to what’s already here. It’s becoming essential that we learn how to relate sanely with difficult times. The earth seems to be beseeching us to connect with joy and discover our innermost essence. This is the best way that we can benefit others." ~ Pema Chodron
“Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself.” ― William Martin
This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
“Everything is interconnected. Gratitude improves sleep. Sleep reduces pain. Reduced pain improves your mood. Improved mood reduces anxiety, which improves focus and planning. Focus and planning help with decision making. Decision making further reduces anxiety and improves enjoyment. Enjoyment gives you more to be grateful for, which keeps that loop of the upward spiral going. Enjoyment also makes it more likely you'll exercise and be social, which, in turn, will make you happier.” --UCLA Neuroscience researcher Alex Korb
Four Rituals that Make You Happy:
(in summary, and as suggested by science to date) 1. Be grateful. 2. Name negative emotions.
"Isn't it sad to go to your grave without ever wondering why you were born? Who, with such a thought, would not spring from bed, eager to resume discovering the world and rejoicing to be part of it?" ~Richard Dawkins
"A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths. Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge." ~Carl Sagan
"Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine." ~Sir Arthur Eddington (1882 - 1944)
"Not only are we in the universe, the universe is in us. I don't know of any deeper spiritual feeling than what that brings upon me." ~Neil deGrasse Tyson www.tinyurl.com/TysonSpirituality
“Spirituality is about being awake. It’s the attempt to transcend the mundane, sleepwalking experience of life we all fall into, to tap into the wonder of being a conscious and grateful thing in the midst of an astonishing universe. It doesn’t require religion. ” ~Dale McGowan, author of "Atheism for Dummies"
Grace just comes: you don’t earn it, you don’t deserve it, and you can’t pay it back. It’s lila, the play that comes, as Krsna puts it in the Bhagavadgita, ‘by rare chance.’ You can say ‘thank you’ and you can offer your gifts. The best gift, of course, is yourself. --Dr. Gopala Aiyar Sundaramoorthy (Here: http://rajanaka.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-black-swan.html)
I felt some loneliness the first week I was here. But now, no. I have enough acquaintances to not feel lonely. The landlady, Marie, speaks English and her bf is American. And her niece, Emma, also…
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