Every day, each one of us is confronted by experiences that can throw us off balance. Watching an intense reaction in a friend. Hearing news of someone we love suffering. Learning of a tragic incident in the world.
It can be very difficult for us to stay present in moments like these. And sometimes we don't. We leave presence and feel our own reactions and suffering. That can happen and it is understandable. It is part of our human experience to come and go from presence.
However, it is when we return to presence, or when we abide in presence, that we find our sense of balance. Nothing else can do that for us in a lasting and deep way.
We feel held from the inside. We relax into our bodies and feel in the here and now in a sensory way. Our nervous system settles. Our breathing becomes more natural. We have arrived in this moment, where we can watch and sense our true nature guiding us.
The resources in this room offer reminders about knowing presence in the face of challenge. They call us back to our inner home, where we are actually the most capable of responding to whatever is happening around us or within us.
May this relationship with balance grow in you so you know it is there anytime and all of the time. May you become acquainted with this inner harbor inside of you.
Favorite Quotes About Balance...
"Observe the rhythm of your breathing; feel the air flowing in and out, feel the life energy inside your body. Allow everything to be, within and without. Allow the “isness” of all things. Move deeply into the Now. You are leaving behind the deadening world of mental abstraction, of time. You are getting out of the insane mind that is draining you of life energy, just as it is slowly poisoning and destroying the Earth. You are awakening out of the dream of time into the present."
~ Eckhart Tolle
"Someone asked me, 'Aren’t you worried about the state of the world?' I allowed myself to breathe and then I said, 'What is most important is not to allow your anxiety about what happens in the world to fill your heart. If your heart is filled with anxiety, you will get sick, and you will not be able to help.'
Yes, there is tremendous suffering all over the world, but knowing this need not paralyze us. If we practice mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful sitting, and working in mindfulness, we can try our best to help."
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
"If you use your mind to try and understand reality,
you will understand neither your mind nor reality.
If you try and understand reality without using your mind,
you will understand both your mind and reality."
~ Bodhidharma
STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES
"Helen Keller was anchored by an enormous spiritual faith. Her optimism and common sense shines through all her writings – which were many. The following wise words seem particularly relevant today:
However strenuous the times may be, we need to relax so as to gain insight into the reservoirs of feeling and dream which make us what we are. I have read of a tribe in the Amazon Valley who on a long journey stop every little while in order to let their souls catch up with their bodies. What a refreshing instinct! It is high time we stop our materialistic rushing to and fro and give the soul leisure to explore its treasures, recharge its faith and devise abilities to overtake the body.”
From “Let Us Have Faith,” 1940. Copyright © American Foundation for the Blind, Helen Keller Archives. www.afb.org
"Life begins to happen through you, not by you."
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
"We are already in the presence of God. What's absent is awareness."
~ Richard Rohr
to the mystery of Being here
and enter the quiet immensity
of your own presence."
~ John O'Donohue