Focus on what is Real

 

The monsters are in your own head.
- Paula Cole

Beware the Rattlesnake of the Mind.
Much is Not as it Appears to be.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

"Rattlesnake of the Mind" is a metaphor inspired by the Zen term, "Monkey Mind," which refers to the mind's tendency to invent an unending sequence of creative stories about everything we see and hear.

Life does not consist mainly,
or even largely, of facts or happenings.
It consist mainly of the storm of thoughts
that is forever flowing through one's head.
- Mark Twain

If you want peace, stop fighting.
If you want peace of mind,
stop fighting with your thoughts.
- Peter McWilliams

You are not your mind. You, a Spiritual BEing,
are neither your mind nor your body.
Mind and body are your tools - to use as you choose.
Sometimes your body appears to have a will of its own,
as when it twitches or pains.
Likewise, your mind often appears to have its own will.
That incessant chattering of regret, disappointment, guilt,
shame, foreboding, worry, and fear
is your Rattlesnake Mind striking off on its own.
Know that your mind can be a vicious rattlesnake, and be cautious.
The mind can be tamed, but only with conscious effort and patience.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Still Your Mind

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Overflowing Cup of Tea - Zen Koan
      

Live Mindfully

 

To the mind that is still,
the whole universe surrenders.
- Lao Tzu

Being wakeful in each and every moment of your life is meditation.
The simplest definition of meditation is:
when seeing, just see; when hearing, just hear.
- Josh Baran

Walking is Zen, sitting is Zen.
Then what will be the quality?
Watchfully alert, joyously unmotivated,
centered, loving, flowing, one walks.
And the walking is sauntering.
Loving, alert, watchful, one sits, unmotivated -
not sitting for anything in particular,
just enjoying how beautiful
just sitting doing nothing is,
how relaxing, how restful.
- Osho

To manage your mind,
know that there is nothing,
and then relinquish all attachment to nothingness.
- Lao Tzu

"Beginner Mind" is a Zen Buddhist term
that describes moving past our assumptions
of the nature of our life,
and really SEEING our surroundings -
especially the people we interact with -
with new eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Managing Your Wayward Mind

Breathe In, Breathe Out

Opening Your Mind

The World is a Paradox

Stay Adaptable
    

In Silence, You Understand Yourself and the Universe.

Find stillness and you find God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We need to find God,
and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
God is the friend of silence.
See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence;
see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...
We need silence to be able to touch souls.
- Mother Teresa

God is found in stillness.
To know God is to stop and be still.
Listen to the spirit within you.
Communion with God happens internally.
You will never meet God in the hustle and bustle of life.
Learn to be silent.
It is here that you will find God.
- Tanya Guerrier

The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue
seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.
- Alan Watts

In prayerful silence you must look into your own heart.
No one can tell you better than yourself
what comes between you and God.
Ask yourself.
Then listen!
- Johannes Tauler

There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery
that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it,
and fills it with noble inclinations.
- Washington Irving

In Silence, You Understand Yourself and the Universe.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet,
you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.
- Alan Watts

Today's affirmation:
I am a Unique Expression
of the Universal Fabric of Creation.
I celebrate both my uniqueness
and my connection with all that is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stillness of the Mind

Have a Conversation with God, Today

Quiet Time

Breath by Breath
     

Don't Be Demanding

 

Things turn out best for the people
who make the best of the way things turn out.
- Art Linkletter

Do your best, accept the rest.
Stop demanding joy, attention and friends.
Allow people to disregard you, it's fine.
Who you are should never depend on externalities like your image or possessions.
Every externality can fade (looks, fame, power, money, etc.)
Become ZEN!
- afcpoop on Reddit

Success seems to be connected with action.
Successful people keep moving.
They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
- Conrad Hilton

Some decisions don't turn out well,
but if you did your best,
you have nothing to be ashamed of.
Never second guess your decisions.
Keep learning, keep trying,
and always do your best.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Do you remember the things you were worrying about a year ago?
Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy
on account of most of them?
Didn't most of them turn out all right after all?
- Dale Carnegie

Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go;
they merely determine where you start.
- Nido Qubein

Further reading: Let It Go - Be Zen

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Fear of Striking Out

How to get over regrets and resentments Forgive Yourself
       

Life plays out in shades of gray rather than in blacks and whites

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past
have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.
- George S. Patton

Life only appears complicated when one is worrying.
Relax, and life becomes simple again.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The contradictions are what make human behavior
so maddening and yet so fascinating,
all at the same time.
- Joan D. Vinge

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am,
then I can change.
- Carl Rogers

Actions are always more complex and nuanced than they seem.
We have to be willing to wrestle with paradox in pursuing understanding.
- Harold Evans

I think wholeness is God's design for us;
and that often amounts to embracing contradictions.
- Bono

Life plays out in shades of gray rather than in blacks and whites.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Overflowing Cup of Tea - Zen Koan

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Yin-Yang

Balance in All Things
      

Be joyful while peeling the potatoes

Be Selective.
Choose to do a few things really well,
and let others do the rest.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If Taoism is a river flowing effortlessly, Zen is a sword cutting through illusion.
 - ChatGPT

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about
God while one is peeling potatoes.
Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.
- Alan Watts

By letting it go, it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try,
The world is beyond the winning.
- Lao Tzu

Besides the noble art of getting things done,
there is the noble art of leaving things undone.
The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
- Lin Yutang

Be - don't try to become.
Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.
- Osho

The things of this world exist;
they are; you can't refuse them.
- Lao Tzu

Aspiration and Vision certainly have their time and place,
but mostly life consists of choosing to be joyful
while peeling the potatoes and taking out the trash.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stillness

Paradox

Gratitude for THIS Moment

Stay Adaptable
    

Beware of Your Own Untamed Mind

The monsters are in your own head.
- Paula Cole

Beware the Rattlesnake of the Mind.
Much is Not as it Appears to be.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

"Rattlesnake of the Mind" is a metaphor inspired by the Zen term, "Monkey Mind," which refers to the mind's tendency to invent an unending sequence of creative stories about everything we see and hear.

Life does not consist mainly,
or even largely, of facts or happenings.
It consist mainly of the storm of thoughts
that is forever flowing through one's head.
- Mark Twain

If you want peace, stop fighting.
If you want peace of mind,
stop fighting with your thoughts.
- Peter McWilliams

You are not your mind. You, a Spiritual BEing,
are neither your mind nor your body.
Mind and body are your tools - to use as you choose.
Sometimes your body appears to have a will of its own,
as when it twitches or pains.
Likewise, your mind often appears to have its own will.
That incessant chattering of regret, disappointment, guilt,
shame, foreboding, worry, and fear
is your Rattlesnake Mind striking off on its own.
Know that your mind can be a vicious rattlesnake, and be cautious.
The mind can be tamed, but only with conscious effort and patience.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Still Your Mind

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Overflowing Cup of Tea - Zen Koan
      

The Mind that is Still

To the mind that is still,
the whole universe surrenders.
- Lao Tzu

Being wakeful in each and every moment of your life is meditation.
The simplest definition of meditation is:
when seeing, just see; when hearing, just hear.
- Josh Baran

Walking is Zen, sitting is Zen.
Then what will be the quality?
Watchfully alert, joyously unmotivated,
centered, loving, flowing, one walks.
And the walking is sauntering.
Loving, alert, watchful, one sits, unmotivated -
not sitting for anything in particular,
just enjoying how beautiful
just sitting doing nothing is,
how relaxing, how restful.
- Osho

To manage your mind,
know that there is nothing,
and then relinquish all attachment to nothingness.
- Lao Tzu

"Beginner Mind" is a Zen Buddhist term
that describes moving past our assumptions
of the nature of our life,
and really SEEING our surroundings -
especially the people we interact with -
with new eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Managing Your Wayward Mind

Breathe In, Breathe Out

Opening Your Mind

The World is a Paradox

Stay Adaptable
    

Understand that You are Connected with Everything

 

Find stillness and you find God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We need to find God,
and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
God is the friend of silence.
See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence;
see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...
We need silence to be able to touch souls.
- Mother Teresa

God is found in stillness.

To know God is to stop and be still.

Listen to the spirit within you.

Communion with God happens internally.

You will never meet God in the hustle and bustle of life.

Learn to be silent. It is here that you will find God.

- Tanya Guerrier

The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue
seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.
- Alan Watts

In prayerful silence you must look into your own heart.
No one can tell you better than yourself
what comes between you and God.
Ask yourself.
Then listen!
- Johannes Tauler

There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery
that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it,
and fills it with noble inclinations.
- Washington Irving

In Silence, You Understand Yourself and the Universe.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet,
you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.
- Alan Watts

Today's affirmation:
I am a Unique Expression
of the Universal Fabric of Creation.
I celebrate both my uniqueness
and my connection with all that is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stillness of the Mind

Have a Conversation with God, Today

Quiet Time

Breath by Breath
     

Do Your Best, Accept the Rest

Things turn out best for the people
who make the best of the way things turn out.
- Art Linkletter

Do your best, accept the rest.
Stop demanding joy, attention and friends.
Allow people to disregard you, it's fine.
Who you are should never depend on externalities like your image or possessions.
Every externality can fade (looks, fame, power, money, etc.)
Become ZEN!
- afcpoop on Reddit

Success seems to be connected with action.
Successful people keep moving.
They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
- Conrad Hilton

Some decisions don't turn out well,
but if you did your best,
you have nothing to be ashamed of.
Never second guess your decisions.
Keep learning, keep trying,
and always do your best.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Do you remember the things you were worrying about a year ago?
Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy
on account of most of them?
Didn't most of them turn out all right after all?
- Dale Carnegie

Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go;
they merely determine where you start.
- Nido Qubein

Further reading: Let It Go - Be Zen

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Fear of Striking Out

How to get over regrets and resentments Forgive Yourself
       

Life is Filled with Shades of Gray and Contradictions

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past
have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.
- George S. Patton

Life only appears complicated when one is worrying.
Relax, and life becomes simple again.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The contradictions are what make human behavior
so maddening and yet so fascinating,
all at the same time.
- Joan D. Vinge

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am,
then I can change.
- Carl Rogers

Actions are always more complex and nuanced than they seem.
We have to be willing to wrestle with paradox in pursuing understanding.
- Harold Evans

I think wholeness is God's design for us;
and that often amounts to embracing contradictions.
- Bono

Further reading: Overflowing Cup of Tea - Zen Koan

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Yin-Yang

Balance in All Things
      

Peel the Potatoes

 

Be Selective.
Choose to do a few things really well,
and let others do the rest.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about
God while one is peeling potatoes.
Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.
- Alan Watts

By letting it go, it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try,
The world is beyond the winning.
- Lao Tzu

Besides the noble art of getting things done,
there is the noble art of leaving things undone.
The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
- Lin Yutang

Be - don't try to become.
Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.
- Osho

The things of this world exist;
they are; you can't refuse them.
- Lao Tzu

Aspiration and Vision certainly have their time and place,
but mostly life consists of choosing to be joyful
while peeling the potatoes and taking out the trash.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stillness

Paradox

Gratitude for THIS Moment

Stay Adaptable
    

Beware the Storm of Thoughts

 

The monsters are in your own head.
- Paula Cole

Beware the Rattlesnake of the Mind.
Much is Not as it Appears to be.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

"Rattlesnake of the Mind" is a metaphor inspired by the Zen term, "Monkey Mind," which refers to the mind's tendency to invent an unending sequence of creative stories about everything we see and hear.

Life does not consist mainly,
or even largely, of facts or happenings.
It consist mainly of the storm of thoughts
that is forever flowing through one's head.
- Mark Twain

If you want peace, stop fighting.
If you want peace of mind,
stop fighting with your thoughts.
- Peter McWilliams

You are not your mind. You, a Spiritual BEing,
are neither your mind nor your body.
Mind and body are your tools - to use as you choose.
Sometimes your body appears to have a will of its own,
as when it twitches or pains.
Likewise, your mind often appears to have its own will.
That incessant chattering of regret, disappointment, guilt,
shame, foreboding, worry, and fear
is your Rattlesnake Mind striking off on its own.
Know that your mind can be a vicious rattlesnake, and be cautious.
The mind can be tamed, but only with conscious effort and patience.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Still Your Mind

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Overflowing Cup of Tea - Zen Koan
      

The Still Mind

 

To the mind that is still,
the whole universe surrenders.
- Lao Tzu

Being wakeful in each and every moment of your life is meditation.
The simplest definition of meditation is:
when seeing, just see; when hearing, just hear.
- Josh Baran

Walking is Zen, sitting is Zen.
Then what will be the quality?
Watchfully alert, joyously unmotivated,
centered, loving, flowing, one walks.
And the walking is sauntering.
Loving, alert, watchful, one sits, unmotivated -
not sitting for anything in particular,
just enjoying how beautiful
just sitting doing nothing is,
how relaxing, how restful.
- Osho

To manage your mind,
know that there is nothing,
and then relinquish all attachment to nothingness.
- Lao Tzu

"Beginner Mind" is a Zen Buddhist term
that describes moving past our assumptions
of the nature of our life,
and really SEEING our surroundings -
especially the people we interact with -
with new eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Managing Your Wayward Mind

Breathe In, Breathe Out

Opening Your Mind

The World is a Paradox

Stay Adaptable
    

In Silence, You Understand Yourself and the Universe

 

Find stillness and you find God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We need to find God,
and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
God is the friend of silence.
See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence;
see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...
We need silence to be able to touch souls.

- Mother Teresa

God is found in stillness.

To know God is to stop and be still.

Listen to the spirit within you.

Communion with God happens internally.

You will never meet God in the hustle and bustle of life.

Learn to be silent. It is here that you will find God.

- Tanya Guerrier

The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue
seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.
- Alan Watts

In prayerful silence you must look into your own heart.
No one can tell you better than yourself
what comes between you and God.
Ask yourself.
Then listen!
- Johannes Tauler

There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery
that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it,
and fills it with noble inclinations.
- Washington Irving

In Silence, You Understand Yourself and the Universe.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet,
you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.
- Alan Watts

Today's affirmation:
I am a Unique Expression
of the Universal Fabric of Creation.
I celebrate both my uniqueness
and my connection with all that is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stillness of the Mind

Have a Conversation with God, Today

Quiet Time

Breath by Breath
     

Keep Learning, Keep Trying

 

Things turn out best for the people
who make the best of the way things turn out.
- Art Linkletter

Do your best, accept the rest.
Stop demanding joy, attention and friends.
Allow people to disregard you, it's fine.
Who you are should never depend on externalities like your image or possessions.
Every externality can fade (looks, fame, power, money, etc.)
Become ZEN!
- afcpoop on Reddit

Success seems to be connected with action.
Successful people keep moving.
They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
- Conrad Hilton

Some decisions don't turn out well,
but if you did your best,
you have nothing to be ashamed of.
Never second guess your decisions.
Keep learning, keep trying,
and always do your best.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Do you remember the things you were worrying about a year ago?
Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy
on account of most of them?
Didn't most of them turn out all right after all?
- Dale Carnegie

Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go;
they merely determine where you start.
- Nido Qubein

Further reading: Let It Go - Zen Maybe So,

Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Fear of Striking Out

How to get over regrets and resentments Forgive Yourself        

Life is Not Black and White, but Shades of Gray and Contradictions

 

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past
have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.
- George S. Patton

Life only appears complicated when one is worrying.
Relax, and life becomes simple again.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The contradictions are what make human behavior
so maddening and yet so fascinating,
all at the same time.
- Joan D. Vinge

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am,
then I can change.
- Carl Rogers

Actions are always more complex and nuanced than they seem.
We have to be willing to wrestle with paradox in pursuing understanding.
- Harold Evans

I think wholeness is God's design for us;
and that often amounts to embracing contradictions.
- Bono

Further reading: Overflowing Cup of Tea - Zen Koan

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Yin-Yang

Balance in All Things
      

Find Joy in Daily Life

 

Be Selective.
Choose to do a few things really well,
and let others do the rest.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about
God while one is peeling potatoes.
Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.
- Alan Watts

By letting it go, it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try,
The world is beyond the winning.
- Lao Tzu

Besides the noble art of getting things done,
there is the noble art of leaving things undone.
The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
- Lin Yutang

Be - don't try to become.
Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.
- Osho

The things of this world exist;
they are; you can't refuse them.
- Lao Tzu

Aspiration and Vision certainly have their time and place,
but mostly life consists of choosing to be joyful
while peeling the potatoes and taking out the trash.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stillness

Paradox

Gratitude for THIS Moment

Stay Adaptable
    

Much is Not as it Appears to be

 

The monsters are in your own head.
- Paula Cole

Beware the Rattlesnake of the Mind,
for Much is Not as it Appears to be.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

"Rattlesnake of the Mind" is a metaphor inspired by the Zen term, "Monkey Mind," which refers to the mind's tendency to invent an unending sequence of creative stories about everything we see and hear.

Life does not consist mainly,
or even largely, of facts or happenings.
It consist mainly of the storm of thoughts
that is forever flowing through one's head.
- Mark Twain

If you want peace, stop fighting.
If you want peace of mind,
stop fighting with your thoughts.
- Peter McWilliams

You are not your mind. You, a Spiritual BEing,
are neither your mind nor your body.
Mind and body are your tools - to use as you choose.
Sometimes your body appears to have a will of its own,
as when it twitches or pains.
Likewise, your mind often appears to have its own will.
That incessant chattering of regret, disappointment, guilt,
shame, foreboding, worry, and fear
is your Rattlesnake Mind striking off on its own.
Know that your mind can be a vicious rattlesnake, and be cautious.
The mind can be tamed, but only with conscious effort and patience.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Still Your Mind

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Overflowing Cup of Tea - Zen Koan
      

God is Found in Stillness

 

Find stillness and you find God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We need to find God,
and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
God is the friend of silence.
See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence;
see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...
We need silence to be able to touch souls.

- Mother Teresa

God is found in stillness.

To know God is to stop and be still.

Listen to the spirit within you.

Communion with God happens internally.

You will never meet God in the hustle and bustle of life.

Learn to be silent. It is here that you will find God.

- Tanya Guerrier

The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue
seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.
- Alan Watts

In prayerful silence you must look into your own heart.
No one can tell you better than yourself
what comes between you and God.
Ask yourself.
Then listen!
- Johannes Tauler

There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery
that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it,
and fills it with noble inclinations.
- Washington Irving

If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet,
you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.
- Alan Watts

Today's affirmation:
I am a Unique Expression
of the Universal Fabric of Creation.
I celebrate both my uniqueness
and my connection with all that is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stillness of the Mind

Have a Conversation with God, Today

Quiet Time

Breath by Breath