end of 2017 zafu cover sale in progress

2017 end-of-year zafu cover sale

(while inventory lasts)

Zafu Meditation Cushion. Floor Pillow. Contemporary Swirl Print.

 (3 in stock)

Meditation Cushion. Zafu. Floor Pillow.UNFILLED COVER. Fabric Kokka Trefle L neon circles.

 (1 in stock)

Zafu Meditation Cushion/Floor Pillow/Dorm Pillow in Purple, with Medallions.

 (3 in stock)

Zafu Meditation Cushion Round Floor Pillow UNFILLED COVER. Rose Floral on Brown Print cotton fabric.

(1 in stock)

Blessed be the healers of the earth.

"We give thanks for all those who are moved, in their lives, to heal and protect the earth, in small ways and in large. Blessings on the composters, the gardeners, the breeders of worms and mushrooms, the soil-builders, those who cleanse the waters and purify the air, all those who clean up the messes others have made. Blessings on those who defend trees and who plant trees, who guard the forests and who renew the forests. Blessings on those who learn to heal the grasslands and renew the streams, on those who prevent erosion, who restore the salmon and the fisheries, who guard the healing herbs and who know the lore of the wild plants. Blessings on those who heal the cities and bring them alive again with excitement and creativity and love. Gratitude and blessings to all who stand against greed, who risk themselves, to those who have bled and been wounded, and to those who have given their lives in service of the earth.
May all the healers of the earth find their own healing. May they be fueled by passionate love for the earth. May they know their fear but not be stopped by fear. May they feel their anger and yet not be ruled by rage. May they honor their grief but not be paralyzed by sorrow. May they transform fear, rage, and grief into compassion and the inspiration to act in service of what they love. May they find the help, the resources, the courage, the luck, the strength, the love, the health, the joy that they need to do the work. May they be in the right place, at the right time, in the right way. May they bring alive a great awakening, open a listening ear to hear the earth's voice, transform imbalance to balance, hate and greed to love. Blessed be the healers of the earth."
-Starhawk
Calming the waters by Kimberly Webber

photo source: pixabay

longer days with more sunlight are on the way...

I'm ready for longer days with more sunlight!

...spiraling, down into and upward out of, matter...

...meditation...

reeds and sand dollars and friendly inspiration...

Sand dollars...people have made up various stories about sand dollars.

Here's my version.

Sand Dollar Zafu available on etsy

Well, not exactly a story...except the zafu design was inspired 

by two comments on my facebook post of the following Reeds zafu design!

Reeds Zafu design available on etsy

 

...our true self..."

“Everyone of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. We are not very good at recognizing illusions, least of all the ones we cherish about ourselves. Contemplation is not and cannot be a function of this external self. There is an irreducible opposition between the deep transcendent self that awakens only in contemplation, and the superficial, external self which we commonly identify with the first person singular. Our reality, our true self, is hidden in what appears to us to be nothingness....We can rise above this unreality and recover our hidden reality....God Himself begins to live in me not only as my Creator but as my other and true self.”

~Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

photo source: pixabay

 

This post brought to you by the human being 

(designer, maker, sewist) 

behind ZafuChi, an etsy store that offers buckwheat hull filled zafus, 

unfilled zafu covers, and filled and unfilled bolster pillows.

Wishing you a wonder-filled day!

love as the center of our being...

"What if our religion was each other,
If our practice was our life,
If prayer, our words...
What if the temple was the Earth
If forests were our church,
If holy water--the rivers, lakes, and ocean
What if meditation was our relationships
If the teacher was life,
If wisdom was self-knowledge
If love was the center of our being."
~ Ganga White

~)(~

"this little Light of mine"

This post brought to you by the human being 

(designer, maker, sewist) 

behind ZafuChi, an etsy store that offers buckwheat hull filled zafus, 

unfilled zafu covers, and filled and unfilled bolster pillows.

Enjoy the day!

...a beautiful space...

a sense of satisfaction

a space created with beautiful intent...

(photo source-with permission from studio owner-Tania)

Intent Space in St. Petersburg, Fla.

TANIA WELCH, 2017

Connect@intentspace.com

 (407) 301-1800 • 327 11th Ave n. 2f. st. petersburg, fl 33701

~)(~

Charcoal and natural linen zafus sourced at zafuChi on etsy

"...a quiet light that shines in every heart."

"There is a quiet light that shines in every heart. It draws no attention to itself though it is always secretly there. It is what illuminates our minds to see beauty, our desire to seek possibility and our hearts to love life. Without this subtle quickening our days would be empty and wearisome, and no horizon would ever awaken our longing. Our passion for life is quietly sustained from somewhere in us that is wedded to the energy and excitement of life. This shy inner light is what enables us to recognize and receive our very presence here as blessing. We enter the world as strangers who all at once become heirs to a harvest of memory, spirit, and dream that has long preceded us and will now enfold, nourish, and sustain us."

~John O'Donohue 

photo source: pixabay

This post brought to you by the human being 

(designer, maker, sewist) 

behind ZafuChi, an etsy store that offers buckwheat hull filled zafus, 

unfilled zafu covers, and filled and unfilled bolster pillows.

Enjoy the day!

 

creativity is the basis of self expression...be the Love.

"Creativity is the basis of self-expression. Why are some people supposedly more creative than others, and why can’t others open themselves up enough to be able to express who they are? Creation is the birth of something, and something cannot come from nothing. When someone creates something: a painting, a poem, a photograph, the creativity comes from an idea, from a feeling, from emotion, or from a combination of ideas, feelings and emotions that are somehow ‘reborn’ from all our experiences and perspectives. Creativity is the desire to express ourselves. To formulate these expressions, we have to draw from our reservoir of experience, dreams, desires and experimentation and mix together what was, what is, and what could be… I don’t think you can learn it, it is rather something that evolves. Your perception of everything in your life fills up this reservoir." 

- Peter Lindbergh, photographer

~)(~

 This post brought to you by the human being 

(designer, maker, sewist) 

behind ZafuChi, an etsy store that offers buckwheat hull filled zafus, 

unfilled zafu covers, and filled and unfilled bolster pillows.

Enjoy the day!

***

from the all new "Fireside Collection"

for more photos of this collection see:

Fireside Collection (facebook photo album) 

the essential point

 ~ Milarepa

"Always recognize the dreamlike qualities of life and reduce attachments and aversion. Practice good-heartedness towards all beings. Be compassionate and loving, no matter what others do to you. What they do will not matter so much when you see it is a dream. The trick is to have positive intention during the dream. This is the essential point. This is true spirituality."

photo source: pixabay

 This post brought to you by the human being 

(designer, maker, sewist) 

behind ZafuChi, an etsy store that offers buckwheat hull filled zafus, 

unfilled zafu covers, and filled and unfilled bolster pillows.

Enjoy the day!

just see right...

"Through excessive thinking, we have lost touch with reality. We confuse signs, words, numbers, symbols, and ideas with the real world. Most of us would rather have money than tangible wealth. To most of us, a great occasion is somehow spoiled unless photographed. To read about it the next day in the newspaper is oddly more fun for us than the original event. This is a disaster, for as a result of confusing the real world of nature with mere signs (such as bank balances and contracts), we are destroying nature. We are so tied up in our minds, that we've lost our senses. Time to wake up." 

 ~Alan Watts

photo source: pixabay

 This post brought to you by the human being 

(designer, maker, sewist) 

behind ZafuChi, an etsy store that offers buckwheat hull filled zafus, 

unfilled zafu covers, and filled and unfilled bolster pillows.

Enjoy the day!

“yours are the heart, the hands, the feet that do the work of Love...”

"Christ has no body now but yours, 

no hands, no feet on earth but yours, 

yours are the eyes through which he looks 

with compassion on this world. 

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. 

 Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world. 

Christ has no body now on earth but yours."

~ Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582)

photo source: pixabay

 this post brought to you by 

Zafuchi - maker and etsyseller of zafu meditation cushions

 

this colorful, crazy mosaic we call life...

“There's an old observation: "We see the other cars as traffic but we rarely see that we are the traffic, too." We often see others as 'off', 'disturbed', 'broken', or 'crazy' without fully realizing that this is the human condition, and that we’re a part of this, too. When we widen our frame to see humanity as a single portrait, and each of us as a mere pixel in it, then we can embrace these pixels as tiles in a (very) colorful mosaic.”

photo source: pixabay

 this post brought to you by  

etsyseller zafuchi - purveyor of handmade zafu meditation cushions

joy and happiness arise from letting go...

"... joy and happiness arise from letting go. 
Please sit down and take an inventory of your life. 
There are things you’ve been hanging on to
 that really are not useful and deprive you of your freedom. 
Find the courage to let them go."

~ Thich Nhat Hanh, in Peace Is Every Breath

....~)..O..(~....

Purple corduroy with medallions zafu

Zafu Meditation Cushion/Floor Pillow/Dorm Pillow in Purple, with Medallions.

 Unfilled cover. 15" x5" with a 6" sidewall zipper closure. Handmade, USA

the silent fragrance that bathes the whole garden...

Maharishi: 
"Heaven and hell are all around you. Your choice." 
"What you focus on is what grows in your life. 
And whatever you resist will persist." 

"The world ended today.
A new one was just created.
Did you notice?
If you pay attention,
this happens with
every breath.
You won't regret the past
or fear the future
when you can rest
this wavering mind
in the heart of presence.
Learn from the rose
surrounded by thorns.
Now is
the silent fragrance
that bathes the whole garden
in beauty."

...be here now...

Zafu 
 O.O.A.K. (one of a kind) Meditation Cushion. Zafu. Round Floor Pillow. Repurposed Cotton fabric in Flamingo Pink. Measures approx. 15" W. by 5" D.. 6" L. Sidewall Zipper. Contains approx. 5 lbs. Dakota grown buckwheat hulls - ready to use. Handmade, USA.

there is only life...

Infinite Way morsel – God As One
"The moment the idea of God as one begins to dawn in consciousness, we begin to understand that in all this world there is no power and there is no presence from which those who are dwelling in the secret place of the most High need protection."
Practicing The Presence
By Joel Goldsmith
From - The Art of Spiritual Healing
By Joel Goldsmith
What About This Body? Chapter 9
"In almost every case that comes to you, you will find some human or material sense of law operating: It may be a law of infection or contagion, or a law of decomposition or breakage. Always some kind of a law has been laid down humanly, and that must be recognized as but of the substance of hypnotism.
The problem may be one of organic or functional disease, and then into the treatment might come the realization that just as the leaves and stem do not govern the life of a plant but that life governs it, so the organs and functions of the body do not govern life: Life governs the organs and functions of the body. As long as life is flowing, the plant flourishes; the stem and leaves are but the outer expression of the life-force.
In the same way, it is not the heart, the liver, or the lungs, which determine life. God is life, and that life cannot be affected by the organs and functions of the body. Therefore, you do not have to be concerned whether they act in accordance with laws laid down by materia medica. By reversing these laws and realizing that life governs every activity of the body, it will manifest harmony and painlessness. In this realization of the true government of the body, you do not come down to the level of the body. You have merely corrected the belief that the body affects life by the understanding that life governs the body. The heart could not beat without life beating it; the digestive or eliminative organs could not work if there were not an intelligence and a life permeating those organs and acting in, on, and through them.
The organs and functions of the body should not be feared: They do not have within them the power of destruction, death, or disease, because inherent in every person is the power of God which is a resurrection even to the dead body, the dead organ, the dead function, or the dead muscle. Within individual consciousness is the power of resurrection.
The Word becomes flesh. Does It change Its nature in becoming flesh? No, not any more than water changes its nature when it becomes ice or when it becomes steam; in either form, it still has the properties of water. So it is that as the Word, God, becomes flesh, It does not change Its nature; It remains the Self-created, Self-maintaining substance, containing within Itself the law, the cause, and the activity of Its form.
The realization of God as the governing principle of all there is, of God as the only substance and the only law, dissolves the appearances, which the world calls sickness, sin, fear, and death. When you are living from the standpoint of concepts or beliefs, your experience is the manifestation of those beliefs; but the activity of truth in consciousness is the word of God made flesh as harmonious being."

photo source: pixabay

God manifests Himself everywhere, in everything

“Life is simple: 

We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent 

and God is shining through it all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. 

It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, 

we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. 

God manifests Himself everywhere, in everything--i

n people and in things and in nature and in events.

It becomes very obvious that He is everywhere and in everything 

and we cannot be without Him. You cannot be without God. 

It's impossible. It's simply impossible." 

~ Thomas Merton

photo source: pixabay

to give is to love...

“Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. 

We are all children of chance, and none can say why

 some fields will blossom and others lay brown beneath the August sun. 

Care for those around you. Look past your differences. 

Their dreams are no less than yours, their choices in life no more easily made.

 And give. Give in any way you can, of whatever you possess. 

To give is to love. To withhold is to wither. 

Care less for your harvest than how it is shared, 

and your life will have meaning 

and your heart will have peace.” 

 ~ Kent Nerburn 

(photo source: pixabay)

Allow yourself to be engulfed by your inner light...

~Agnisattva~

 

"The discovery of God is the most simple of simple things 

for He is none other than your own Self.
It takes no effort to discover Him in the same way that it takes no effort 

for one's face to be reflected in a mirror.
The discovery of God is your discovery of yourself.
The seeming difficulty is in the refusal to let the thoughts

 you have about yourself go. The mind says: 

"It cannot be this simple..." and the mind is right:

 its even simpler than this.
Allow yourself to be engulfed by your inner light.
Nothing more is needed 

or required."

photo source: pixabay

 

The greatest romance is with the Infinite.

~ Paramahansa Yogananda~

“God understands you when everyone else misunderstands you. He is the Lover who cherishes you always, no matter what your mistakes. Others give you their affection for a while and then forsake you, but He abandons you never. In countless ways God is daily seeking your Love.

The greatest romance is with the Infinite. You have no idea how beautiful life can be. When you suddenly find God everywhere, when He comes and talks to you and guides you, the romance of Divine Love has begun.

Feel the Love of God; then in every person you will see the face of the Father, the light of Love which is in all. You will find a magic, living relationship uniting the trees, the sky, the stars, all people, and all living things, and you will feel a oneness with them. This is the code of Divine Love.

Giving Love to all, feeling the Love of God, seeing His presence in everyone, and having but one desire - for His constant presence in the temple of your consciousness - that is the way to live in this world.”

photo source: pixabay

living from the inside out...

"Anger and hatred are the materials from which hell is made. 

A mind without anger is cool, fresh, and sane." 

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

"When the weather is hot, keep a cool mind. 

When the weather is cold, keep a warm heart." 

~ Ajahn Brahm

"Ultimately, there are only two choices: choose from fear 

or choose from love. Both have predictable outcomes." 

~ Frederick Russ - twitter

A Course in Miracles‏ @CourseDaily

"We look inside first, decide the kind of world we want to see

 and then project that world outside, making it the truth as we see it."

the Oneness, that breathes us all...

"Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles, 

and the water is clear? 

Can you remain unmoving until the right action arises by itself?"
- Lao Tzu

Jasmuheen (click for facebook page link)

conscious interaction...

Eckhart Tolle: 

"One conscious breath is a meditation."

"Conscious breathing indicates a willingness to consciously interact,

or commune with, what is in and around us." ~Sarah

Meditation Cushion. Zafu. Floor Pillow. Natural Linen/Rayon Blend Slub Fabric. 15x5 Buckwheat Hull filled. 5" Sidewall Zipper. Handmade, USA
$44.95

click here to visit zafu listing page: 

desire is the cause of unhappiness...

"We long for what we don’t have because we believe that having it will finally bring us peace and happiness. We don’t realize that the lack of peace and happiness we are feeling is actually a result of desiring what we don’t have. The desire is the cause of our unhappiness, not the fact that the desire is unfulfilled."

~ Gina Lake (20th-21st century American Advaita mystic)

photo source: pixabay.com

This post brought to you by etsyseller ZafuChi,

maker and seller of zafu meditation cushions, handmade in the U.S.A.

live streaming life...

"What is birth and death but the beginning and the ending of a stream of events in consciousness? Because of the idea of separation and limitation they are painful. 

Momentary relief from pain we call pleasure -- and we build castles in the air hoping for endless pleasure which we call happiness. 

It is all misunderstanding and misuse. 

Wake up, go beyond, live really."

- Nisargadatta

photo source: pixabay.com

This post brought to you by etsyseller ZafuChi,

maker and seller of zafu meditation cushions, handmade in the U.S.A.

wait patiently, until the song that is your life falls into your cupped hands...

"Do not try to save the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create a clearing
in the dense forest of your life
and wait there patiently,
until the song that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know how
to give yourself
to this world
so worthy of rescue."

~ Martha Postlewaite

photo source: pixabay.com

 This post brought to you by etsyseller ZafuChi, 

maker of eco-friendly zafus and bolsters.

European linen zafu in pin-tuck design

 

announcing July 2017 zafu cover blowout sale...

It's time to move some perfectly good stock to make room for a fall inventory. Everybody (I'm almost 100% sure) loves a sale or a deal. Well, here's my deal! Click here July unfilled zafu cover Blowout Sale to enter my etsy store section where there is a selection of 19 different unfilled zafu covers - priced at the unbelievable Blowout Sale price of $10. each! The first one has free shipping, and if you buy two they both ship at a flat rate shipping of $3.75. USPS 1st Class, or choose Priority Mail at checkout.  Available in bright colors, solids, stripes, and florals. Please share this announcement with any friends or acquaintances who might be interested. Thank you!

July unfilled zafu cover Blowout Sale

photo source: pixabay.com

 

Practicing mindfulness together...

"We all have a fundamental need to belong, to feel safe, alive, and welcome. We can transform our own family or household into such a place where this is possible. Together we can practice breathing and smiling, sitting together, drinking tea together in mindfulness. If we have a bell, the bell is also part of the community, because the bell helps us practice, calling us back to ourselves to the present moment. If we have a meditation cushion, the cushion is also part of the community.

There are many things that help us practice mindfulness—even the air for breathing. If we live near a park or a riverbank, we can enjoy walking meditation there, and the park or river becomes part of our community. We need to establish a community at home. From time to time we can invite a friend to join us. We need to expand our definition of family to include not only our friends and community, but also the sun, the sky, the trees, the birds, and the hills around us. Practicing mindfulness is much easier when we do it together."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

photo source:  pixabay

 

we're always at the right place at the right time...

"No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place." 

~Zen~

"Surrender to existence and allow it to take you wherever it takes you; 

it has never taken anybody into any wrong space."

~Osho~

(btw, the little me doesn't believe this is 100% true. ;) Sarah )

(Photos source: pixabay)

This post brought to you by etsyeller Zafuchi, 

maker of zafu meditation cushions and bolster pillows; handmade USA

the journey to where we first started...

“Life is a dual journey: 

one journey is in time and space the other is within oneself and truth. 

 The first ends in death - the second in deathlessness. 

 The second is the real journey because it takes you somewhere. 

Those who take the first journey as it, waste their lives. 

The real life begins the day you start the other journey.”

— O S H O, 'A Cup of Tea'

 

“We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring 

Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.” 

  T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Spiderwort plant in bloom

 

Gurdjieff on "becoming just Love"...

"Gurdjieff used the I AM method. Work deeply on I AM whatever you are doing. Drinking water, eating, remember "I AM." Do not forget it! When you walk remember I AM. Let the walking be there, but be fixed on "I AM I AM I AM." Let this be constant in your awareness. Then it will begin to penetrate your sleep also.
Gurdjieff worked on his method continuously. His chief disciple P.D. Ouspensky relates that when Gurdjieff was working with him on this method and he was practicing for 3 months continuously this remembering of "I AM I AM I AM", everything stopped. Thoughts, dreaming, everything stopped. Only one note like music remained "I AM." But it was not an effort. This was a spontaneous activity going on. "I AM." Then Gurdjieff called Ouspensky out of the house. For 3 months he had been kept inside and was not allowed to go out.
Then Gurdjieff said 'Come with me!'They were living in a Russian town of Tiflis. They went out into the street. Ouspensky writes in his diary, "For the first time I could understand what Jesus meant when he said that man is asleep. The whole city looked to me as if asleep. People were moving in their sleep, shopkeepers were selling in their sleep, customers buying in their sleep. The whole city was asleep! I looked over at Gurdjieff. Only he was awake. The whole city around us was asleep. They were angry, fighting, they were loving, buying, selling, doing, everything."
Ouspensky said "I could see their faces, their eyes, they were asleep. The inner center was missing, it was not there.' Ouspensky said to Gurdjieff "I do not want to go there anymore. What happened to the city? Everyone seems asleep, drugged."
Gurdjieff said "Nothing has happened to the city. Something has happened to you. You have been undrugged. The city remains the same. It is the same place you moved into 3 months ago. But you couldn't see that other people are asleep because you were also asleep. Now you can see because a certain quality of awareness has come to you. With three months of practicing "I AM" continuously, you have become aware in a very short matter of time. You have become aware! A part of your consciousness has gone beyond dreaming. That is why you can see that everyone is asleep, dead, moving, drugged, as if hypnotized."
Ouspensky says "I could not bear this phenomenon - everyone asleep! Whatsoever they are doing, they are not responsible for it. They are not! How can they be responsible?" He came back and asked Gurdjieff "What is this? Am I deceived somehow? Have you done something to me that the whole city seems asleep? I cannot believe my own eyes!"
But this will happen to anyone. If you can remember yourself, then you will know that no one is remembering himself, and in this way each one goes on moving. The whole world is asleep. But start while you are awake. Any moment that you start "I AM."
I do not mean that you have to repeat the words "I AM" but have the feeling. Take a bath and feel "I AM." Let the touch of the cold shower be there, and let yourself be there behind, feeling it and remembering "I AM."Remember I am not saying that verbally you have to repeat "I AM." You can repeat it but that repetition will not give you awareness. Repetition may even create more sleep. So this "I AM", the remembering of "I AM", is not a verbal mantra. Feel it! Be sensitive to your being. When you touch someone else's hand do not only touch it, but feel it, feel your touch also. While you eat, feel yourself eating as well. This feeling will penetrate deeper and deeper into your mind.
One day suddenly you are awake at your own center, functioning for the first time. And then the whole world becomes a dream. And then you know that your dreaming is a dreaming. And when you know that your dreaming is a dreaming, dreaming stops. It can continue only if it is felt to be real. It is stopped if it is felt as unreal.
And once dreaming stops, you are a different man. The old man is dead; the sleepy man is dead. That human being which you were, you are no more. For the first time, you become aware. For the first time, in the whole world that is asleep, you are awake. You become a Buddha, an Awakened One.
After this awakening, there is no misery. After this awakening, there is no death. Through this awakening, there is no more fear. You become, for the first time, free of everything. To be free of sleep, to be free of dreaming, is to be free of everything. Hate, greed, anger all disappear. You attain freedom. You become just love."
- George Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky (as related in the Book of Secrets by Osho)

morning sun - light and shadows through the window

This post brought to you by etsyseller and zafu maker, ZafuChi.

kiss the earth with your feet

"Wherever we walk, 

whether it's the railway station or the supermarket, 

we are walking on the earth and so we are in a holy sanctuary.

 If we remember to walk like that, 

we can be nourished and find solidity with each step."

 ~Thich Nhat Hanh

This blog post brought to you by ZafuChi, 

an independent maker, and etsy seller, 

of handmade zafu meditation cushions and bolster pillows.

letting go...returning to nameless formless Love...

My love, carry on.
Yours is a great calling.
You are discharging
your river
of names and forms into
the nameless Ocean
of no return.
In doing so, others can
witness and taste, through you,
That which they have heard
only as rumor.

~ Mooji
(from ‘Writing on Water’) 

Siesta Key Beach

 

that sneaky, tricky ego mind...

"Loving what is, would seem to be the simplest thing possible. It involves no effort, no struggle, no longing, and no disappointment. But loving what is goes against our programming, so it is difficult. It requires vigilance to counteract the egoic mind’s automatic rejection and resistance to whatever is happening. To experience the peace and happiness that exist in this moment, it is necessary to stop listening to the egoic mind, which undermines this peace and happiness with complaints and judgments. These are the tactics it uses to take us out of the present and into its world of desires, hopes, and dreams. It woos us with fantasies of a more perfect world, a more perfect mate, a more perfect experience, and a more perfect you, all of which are unreal and will never be real."

~ Gina Lake (20th-21st century American Advaita mystic)

photo source: canva.com

things that go bump in the night - or day...

~The Places That Scare You~

"The Buddha taught that flexibility and openness bring strength and that running from groundlessness weakens us and brings pain. But do we understand that becoming familiar with the running away is the key? Openness doesn't come from resisting our fears but from getting to know them well.
Rather than going after those walls and barriers with a sledgehammer, we pay attention to them. With gentleness and honesty, we move closer to those walls. We touch them and smell them and get to know them well. We begin a process of acknowledging our aversions and our cravings. We become familiar with the strategies and beliefs we use to build the walls: What are the stories I tell myself? What repels me and what attracts me? We start to get curious about what's going on. Without calling what we see right or wrong, we simply look as objectively as we can. We can observe ourselves with humor, not getting overly serious, moralistic or uptight about this investigation. Year after year, we train in remaining open and receptive to whatever arises. Slowly, very slowly, the cracks in the wall seem to widen and, as if by magic, bodhichitta is able to flow freely." 

(From her book "The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times" by Pema Chödrön

 

click here for zafuchi etsy store link: