If you take a deep breath and look around, 'Look what's happening to me!' can become 'Look what's happening!' And what's happening? The incredible drama of life is happening. And we're in it!
Interpretation
The quote encourages us to appreciate the present moment and the unfolding drama of life, rather than focusing solely on our personal struggles.
Sylvia Boorstein's quote emphasizes the importance of perspective in our experiences. By shifting our focus from a self-centered viewpoint of our problems to a broader appreciation of life itself, we can recognize the beauty and drama that surrounds us. Instead of lamenting our challenges, we are invited to observe and celebrate the richness of life unfolding around us.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a mindfulness workshop to encourage participants to live in the moment.
Heir to your own karma doesn't mean 'You get what you deserve.' I think it means 'You get what you get.' Bad things happen to good people. My happiness depending on my action means, to me, that it depends on my action of choosing compassion--for myself as well as for everyone else--rather than contention. [p.61]
Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn't more complicated that that. It is opening to or recieving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.
The path of compassion leads to the development of insight. But it doesn't work to say, "Ready, set, go! Be compassionate!" Beginning any practice depends on intention. Intention depends on intuiting-at least a little bit-the suffering inherent in the human condition and the pain we feel, and cause, when we act out of confusion. It also depends on trusting-at least a little bit-in the possibility of a contented, satisfied mind.
Mindfulness is attentiveness, moment to moment. What's happening right now and what's coming up in me in response to what's happening right now. Importantly, this is in the service of being able to choose wisely so that I avoid complicating my own life and the lives of others.
Suffering is the demand that experience be different from what it is.
If we can keep at least a bit of the mind clear about temporality, we can mange complicated, even difficult, times with grace.
Keep searchin’ for your mystery note on the universal piano of life.
I'm not often bored,' I assured her. "Life's not long enough for that.
This isn't life in the fast lane, it's life in the oncoming traffic.
Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so.
I am suddenly left alone again on the sunny path, with a memory of the rain.
We're a lukewarm people for all our feast days and hard work. Not much touches us, but we long to be touched. We lie awake at night willing the darkness to part and show us a vision. Our children frighten us in their intimacy, but we make sure they grow up like us. Lukewarm like us. On a night like this, hands and faces hot, we can believe that tomorrow will show us angels in jars and that the well-known woods will suddenly reveal another path.
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