I have survived.

I am here. 

Confused, 

screwed up, 

but here.

- Laurie Halse Anderson -

 

 

 Most black sheep of the family become self-healers, 

break their generational curses, guilt, shame, 

and start their own lineage.

- Tiny Buddha -

 

 

 

 

 We know not what is next for us…

we take it one day at a time…

we work hard… we play hard…

and do the best we can to enjoy the journey.

 

 

 

 

Feel your feelings. 

They won’t harm you, 

they can just feel very uncomfortable in your body.

 When we can slowly let them in, 

they have a beginning, a middle, and an end. 

To feel them is to start healing them

- Tiny Buddha -

 

 

 

 

All the wars, all the hatred, all the ignorance in the world come out of being so invested in our opinions. 

 

And at bottom, those opinions are merely our efforts to escape the underlying uneasiness of being human, the uneasiness of feeling like we can’t get ground under our feet. 

 

So we hold on to our fixed ideas of this is how it is and disparage any opposing views. 

 

But imagine what the world would be like if we could come to see our likes and dislikes as merely likes and dislikes, and what we take to be intrinsically true as just our personal viewpoint.

 

- Pema Chodron -

 

 

 

 

 

 The simplest communication is always the best.

 Say what you mean.

 That's integrity.

 Don't say one thing and mean another. 

That's bullshit.

- B. D. Schiers -

 

 

 To stay present in everyday life,

 it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself;

 otherwise,

 the mind, which has incredible momentum, 

will drag you along like a wild river.

- E. Tolle -

 

 

One of the most difficult people to forgive

 can be yourself. 

 

 

Yet with patience and gentle determination, 

it can be done.

 

 ❖ Allan Lokos❖

 

 

 

 

When someone insults us, we usually dwell on it, asking ourselves, 'Why did he say that to me?' and on and on.

 It's as if someone shoots an arrow at us, but it falls short.

 Focusing on the problem is like picking up the arrow and repeatedly stabbing ourselves with it, saying, 'He hurt me so much.

 I can't believe he did that.' 

Instead, we can use the method of contemplation to think things through differently, to change our habit of reacting with anger.

 Imagine that someone insults you. 

Say to yourself, 'This person makes me angry. But what is this anger?'

 It is one of the poisons of the mind that creates negative karma, leading to intense suffering. 

Meeting anger with anger is like following a lunatic who jumps off a cliff. 

Do I have to go likewise? 

While it's crazy for him to act the way he does, it's even crazier for me to do the same.

- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche -

 

 

 I sit before flowers 

hoping they will train me in the art of opening up

 I stand on mountain tops

 believing that avalanches will teach me to let go

 I know nothing

 but I am here to learn.

- Shane Koyczan -

 

 

I want to say somewhere: I’ve tried to be forgiving.

  And yet.

 There were times in my life, whole years, when anger got the better of me.

 Ugliness turned me inside out.

 There was a certain satisfaction in bitterness.

 I courted it.

 It was standing outside, and I invited it in.

 

- Nicole Krauss, The History of Love -

 

 

Linton Kwesi Johnson - Want Fi Goh Rave