Karmacology: Mindful Living, Sacred Practice

Find Something Creative

2009-10-02T05:22:00.001-06:00

My future starts when I wake up every morning... Every day I find something creative to do with my life.
-- Miles Davis

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Every Child Comes With the Message

2009-09-24T09:05:00.001-06:00

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.
-- Rabindranath Tagore

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Nothing is Left Undone

2009-09-20T12:34:00.001-06:00

Learning builds daily accumulation, but the practice of Tao builds daily simplification. Simplify and simplify, until all contamination from relative, contridictory thinking is eliminated. Then one does nothing, yet nothing is left undone. One who wins the world does so by not meddling with it. One who meddles with the world loses it.
-- Tao te Ching, 48. Lao-Tzu

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Train of Thought

2009-08-18T12:52:00.001-06:00

Real, constructive mental power lies in the creative thought that shapes your destiny, and your hour-by-hour mental conduct produces power for change in your life. Develop a train of thought on which to ride. The nobility of your life as well as your happiness depends upon the direction in which that train of thought is going.
-- Laurence J. Peter

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Your Presence is a Gift

2009-08-12T14:31:00.001-06:00

The most precious gift we can offer others is presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they bloom like flowers.
-- Thich Nhat Hanh

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Thinking About a Peaceful Planet

2009-08-02T08:31:00.001-06:00

“What we're thinking about is a peaceful planet.
We're not thinking about anything else.
We're not thinking about any kind of power.
We're not thinking about any kind of struggles.
We're not thinking about revolution or war or any of that.
That's not what we want.
Nobody wants to get hurt.
Nobody wants to hurt anybody.
We would all like to be able to live an uncluttered life.
A simple life, a good life.
And like think about moving the whole human race ahead a step, or a few steps.”
-- Jerry Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995)

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Living in Agreement

2009-07-20T20:25:00.001-06:00

The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.
-- Zeno

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The Glass is Already Broken

2009-07-17T10:16:00.001-06:00

“You see this goblet?” asks Achaan Chaa, the Thai meditation master. “For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ When I understand that the glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.”
-- Mark Epstein, Thoughts Without a Thinker

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All is a Miracle

2009-07-14T15:36:00.001-06:00

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
-- Thich Nhat Hanh

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The Highest Reward

2009-07-01T10:04:00.001-06:00

The highest reward for man's toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.
-- John Ruskin

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Aim at the Sun

2009-06-26T12:53:00.001-06:00

Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if aimed at an object on a level with yourself.
-- Joel Hawes

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Alter Lives; Alter Attitudes

2009-06-24T13:34:00.001-06:00

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.
-- William James

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Every Day You May Make Progress

2009-06-23T12:32:00.002-06:00

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.
-- Sir Winston Churchill

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You Have to Actually Practice

2009-06-23T12:15:00.002-06:00

Cultivating mindfulness is not unlike the process of eating. It would be absurd to propose that someone else eat for you. And when you go to a restaurant, you don’t eat the menu, mistaking it for the meal, nor are you nourished by listening to the waiter describe the food. You have to actually eat the food for it to nourish you. In the same way, you have to actually practice mindfulness in order to reap its benefits and come to understand why it is so valuable.
-- John Kabat-Zinn, from Letting Everything Become Your Teacher: 100 Lessons in Mindfulness

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You Are That One

2009-06-05T13:22:00.003-06:00

There is a tale among us, a legend preserved by the old tellers from the farthest distance of our past... It is said that upon the edge of the Earth at the end of time stands a lone man who holds the meaning of it all... It is said that he has mastered all skill and prowess that we desire, all restraint and calm, and has become perfection -- passion and mastery like unto the poised grandeur of mountains. And it is said, should ever one of us seek him out... and contest with him, we will learn the measure of our worth, in defeat or triumph. Therefore we are a seeking people. In each heart among us beats a yearning for this test and the knowledge it offers.

Yet the path which leads to him is unknown, has never been known. It is said that this path must not be known -- that it may only be found by one who knows without knowledge and has not come seeking the thing he seeks.

You are that one.
-- Stephen R. Donaldson, from The One Tree

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The Menu is not the Meal

2009-05-11T07:17:00.003-06:00

Cultivating mindfulness is not unlike the process of eating. It would be absurd to propose that someone else eat for you. And when you go to a restaurant, you don’t eat the menu, mistaking it for the meal, nor are you nourished by listening to the waiter describe the food. You have to actually eat the food for it to nourish you. In the same way, you have to actually practice mindfulness in order to reap its benefits and come to understand why it is so valuable.
-– John Kabat-Zinn, from Letting Everything Become Your Teacher

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The Belief Principle

2009-05-06T20:15:00.004-06:00

You have been created for some specific work. Nobody else has been entrusted with your role in human history. If you do not play your part, your part will go unplayed.

Foster the belief that you were born for a reason...and with every passing day you will begin to see the reason unfolding before your eyes.

All you have to do is prepare yourself and cooperate by choosing the-best-version-of-yourself in the moments of each day.
-- Matthew Kelly, from The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose

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Trust the Body

2009-05-04T16:39:00.002-06:00

The body is shaped, disciplined, honored, and in time, trusted.
-- Martha Graham

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Recognition

2009-05-01T09:00:00.002-06:00

No man remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself.
-- Thomas Mann

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Courage is Resistance to Fear

2009-04-30T13:50:00.002-06:00

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
-- Mark Twain

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Changing the Inner Attitudes

2009-04-29T12:15:00.002-06:00

Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
-- William James

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The Essence of Encouragement

2009-04-28T08:44:00.002-06:00

Each person has an ideal, a hope, a dream which represents the soul. We must give to it the warmth of love, the light of understanding and the essence of encouragement.
-- Colby Dorr Dam

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Uncreative Moments

2009-04-26T12:55:00.002-06:00

One must also accept that one has 'uncreative' moments. The more honestly one can accept that, the quicker these moments will pass.
-- Etty Hillesum

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Nothing is Really Work

2009-04-25T08:53:00.003-06:00

Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.
-- James M. Barrie

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Following Your Deepest Instinct

2009-04-24T05:52:00.003-06:00

It is only by following your deepest instinct that you can lead a rich life, and if you let your fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct, then your life will be safe, expedient and thin.
-- Katharine Butler Hathaway

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