Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
“Mindfulness is the awareness that comes from paying attention, without judgment, to this present moment.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
Musings
“To walk such a path requires a method: a disciplined way of learning to pay attention to all that is arising within. This is called mindfulness. But mindfulness is not simply a technique. It is an act of love. Our willingness to see, to hold ourselves closely just as we are, while being this way with another, is a revealing and deeply healing expression of care. An embodiment of compassion. Compassion begins at home, with ourselves. Whether offering or seeking help, we are all wounded and we are all whole.”
- Saki Santorelli
“Look, my friend, we are all wounded. Welcome home! Fragmented and longing, aren’t we all searching for the cure that will restore us to wholeness? Isn’t helping simply an expression of our longing to recover this completeness? At its center, the profession of healing is the outward fulfillment of our wish to serve, to give-to be restored. Outwardly, we direct our efforts toward restoring others, but somewhere we know there really is no other.”
- Saki Santorelli
“The loss of normalcy, the disruption of perceived wholeness, the felt sense of isolation and limitation are at heart the primary predicament of the patient. Yet these feelings are common to all of us, whether we are caregivers or in need of healing….Navigating in this way is possible only if caregivers learn to suspend, at least momentarily, the addictive, intoxicating drive to do.”
- Saki Santorelli
'People begin to discover(through MBSR) how big they really are. Nothing is added. “I’ve got cancer but I am not my cancer.”'
- Saki Santorelli
"Noise is a construct of the mind. Once you get permission to just let it be sound it is not as disturbing. Snoring is snoring; breathing is breathing; annoyance is annoyance. Watch out for the narrative."
- Jon Kabat-ZInn
“You can see a lot just by looking.”
- Yogi Berra
“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely. The world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-over and over announcing your place, in the family of things.”
- Mary Oliver
“Look, feel, let life take you by the hand. Let life live through you.”
- Roger Keyes
“Show up.
Pay attention.
Tell the truth, without blame or judgement.
Don’t be attached to the outcome.”
- Angeles Arrien
“Meet me, meet me, the redbird sings, here here here here.”
- Wendell Berry
“Mindfulness is described as the heart of Buddhist meditation. Nevertheless, cultivating mindfulness is not a Buddhist activity.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Most of our lives we are absorbed in doing: in getting things done, in going rapidly from one thing to the next, or in multitasking-attempting to juggle a bunch of different things at the very same time.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
“The time will come, yes, but only if we give ourselves over to waking up, to coming to our senses, and cultivating the full capacity of our sorely taken-for granted and unexamined minds and hearts. Only if we can perceive the chains of robotic conditioning, especially our emotional conditioning, and our view of who we think we are-peel our own image from the mirror-and in the perceiving, in seeing what is here to be seen, hearing what is here to be heard, watching the chains dissolving in the seeing, in the hearing, as we rotate back into our larger original beauty, as we greet ourself arriving at our own door, as we love again the stranger who was ourself.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
“It is only fair for me to point out right from the start, again in the spirit of full disclosure, that the cultivation of mindfulness may just be the hardest work in the world.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Of course, as with any instrument-whether it is a radio telescope, a spectrophotometer, or a bathroom scale-you have to first calibrate it and stabilize the platform on which it sits so you can get reliable readings.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”
- Mary Oliver
“We take care of the future best by taking care of the present now.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Everytime we get angry, we get better at being angry and reinforce the anger habit. When it is really bad, we say we see red, which means we don’t see accurately what’s happening at all, and so in that moment, you could say we have “lost” our mind. Every time we get self absorbed, we get better at becoming self absorbed and going unconscious. Every time we get anxious, we get better at being anxious. Practice does make perfect.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Awareness may not diminish the enormity of our pain in all circumstances. It does provide a bigger basket for tenderly holding and intimately knowing our suffering in any and all circumstances, and that, it turns out is transformative and healing."
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
“In any given moment we are either practicing mindfulness or, de facto, mindlessness. When framed this way we might want to take more responsibility for how we meet the world, inwardly and outwardly, in any and every moment.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
"Beyond right and wrong, there is a field. I'll meet you there." - Rumi
Mysteries, Yes
Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.
How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds
will never be broken.
How people come, from delight or thes
cars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.
Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers. Let me keep company always with those who say
"Look!" and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.
~ Mary Oliver ~
(Evidence)
Eternity
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sun rise.
- William Blake -
Hopi Prophecy
By The Nourisher
You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour.
And there are things to be considered:
Where are you living? What are you doing?
What are your relationships? Are you in right relation?
Where is your water? Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of
the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally.
Least of all, ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to ahalt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
- The Elders, Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation -